Just A Dream
by TVDMelody
Summary: Veronica Bennett, Bonnie's twin sister, lives a relatively normal life. Well, other than the fact that she and her sister are witches and her best friend is a vampire who's been alive for nearly one hundred years. Follow Veronica's story as she meets more vampires and enters a world that she could only have imagined in her worst nightmares. [Eventual Alaric/OC, follows season 1]
1. Prologue: This Is How It All Begins

**AN: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, any of the characters or the plot, that belongs to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. I solely own Dana, and Veronica when she appears. All rights go to their original owners. Also, before anyone questions it, this story is also up on my Quotev account.**

 _Dear Diary,_

 _They say that the very definition of insanity is to do the same thing repeatedly with the hopes of gaining a different result. Well, if that truly is the case then I've been insane for the last sixty years. Every few years, I move to a new state and a new city, in the hopes of getting a fresh start. I've tried multiple times to start over and live a normal life, but I suppose that is impossible for me. The entire universe seems to be against me getting the life that I so desperately desire, probably because by the normal laws of the universe, I shouldn't exist. I should have died in 1922, in Chicago when I had my neck snapped, but no. Here I am, alive and well._

 _You know, I hope nobody ever reads this. I'll seem a bit insane, won't I? That's why I hate diaries. I hate giving people a way to know all your intimate thoughts. I never used to have enough time nor the energy to be bothered to sit down and write my personal thoughts down into some stupid little book that I'd probably lose or find out that one of my nosy family members had read. But now that I have a literal eternity, I suppose that I have the odd moment to sit down and scribble some deep poetic thought down, make myself seem smart to whoever is reading this. Not that I care what you think, nosy person who's decided to ignore the various warnings that I've placed on this book._

 _Where was I? Oh, yes, the fact that despite everything I'm still alive and the universe hates me for it. I mean, it's not like I blame the universe for hating me and my kind. We defy the laws of the world, we do what we want, when we want and often there's very little consequences for any of us._

 _I suppose, person who's reading this, that I have probably lost you at this point, so I suppose that I'd better introduce myself, hadn't I? My father would claim that's the polite thing to do._

 _So, hello there, stranger. My name is Dana Isabella Salvatore. I was born in the year 1900 in Chicago, Illinois and in 1922, I was turned into a vampire._

 _You have no idea what you've gotten yourself into, do you?_

 **AN: And I'm going to end it there! I know this was short, as it was just a prologue, but I hope that it's interested you! Anyway, please let me know what you think, as I'm quite nervous about this story, and I'll see you in the next one!**


	2. Chapter 1: Welcome To My Life

**AN: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, any of the characters or the plot, that belongs to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. I solely own Dana and Veronica. All rights go to their original owners.**

"Ronnie! Are you coming today or tomorrow? We have to go and meet Elena!" The loud call of Veronica's twin sister Bonnie called up the stairs, causing the slightly younger Bennett to softly sigh to herself as she approached the bedroom door.

"I'm coming!" She called softly to her sister, her voice retaining that instantly recognisable Veronica softness, as she proceeded to turn back on her heel, picking up the slightly dirtied light blue satchel bag that she'd been using to carry her school books since she was in middle school. Draping it haphazardly over her shoulder, she looked in the mirror for a few moments, taking a moment to brush her dark brown coloured hair back, hoping to get it out of her face. To say that her hair tended to be a bit chaotic would be an understatement, but no matter how hard she tried to tame it, nothing ever seemed to work. After throwing her hair up into a lose ponytail to attempt to make sure that it'd stay out of her eyes, she proceeded to leave her bedroom and head down the staircase. Her sneakers made soft thudding noises on the wooden steps, signalling to her sister that she was finally on her way down, a small smile pulling at her lips as her dark green eyes met the dark brown eyes of her sister. "Sorry. Time got away from me again." Veronica apologised as she and her sister walked over to the front door, causing Bonnie to look up from the silver car keys that she held within her right hand to give a small shake of her head in response to her words.

"Don't worry about it, Ron. I doubt that Elena's in a massive hurry to get to school today." Bonnie responded, causing Veronica to lightly bite down on her lower lip. This would be the first time that Elena and her brother Jeremy had gone to school since their parents had died in a car accident on Wickery Bridge. Things were likely to be a little bit emotional for them today, if Jeremy even bothered to go to school today. He didn't have the best attendance record before the accident, and if anything, this was just likely to push him away from school rather than towards it. Allowing a gentle exhale of breath to fall from her lips, Veronica got into the back of the car, her brown eyes looking at her sister who was sat in the driver's seat.

"Are you sure that we should take the car to pick her up?" The young woman inquired, worried that perhaps it wasn't the best idea to force the young girl who had nearly died in a car accident a matter of weeks ago to get into a car. She didn't want Elena to be too uncomfortable on their first day back. Hopefully this new year would be a new start for her, as it would be for all of them.

"I texted her last night, asking her if she was comfortable with the car, she said that she'd be fine, although you know Elena," Bonnie began to talk as she started up the engine of her grey car, "she doesn't want to put anyone to too much trouble for her." Veronica nodded gently in response to her sister's words, knowing them to be true. Elena's selflessness was both her strength and her flaw. Pulling the seatbelt over herself, Veronica allowed her eyes to look out of the window at the relatively dull Mystic Falls morning. Nothing exciting ever happened in her town, it was perhaps the most ordinary place in the world. As her eyes observed the normal sight of parents walking with their small children to school, and people just going for walks, something caught her eye when Bonnie came to a stop at a set of traffic lights. Sat on a fencepost was a large black bird, its onyx coloured eyes looking directly over at her. Its gaze was unnerving, with something… almost supernatural being held in it. As Veronica's own brown eyes met the black ones of the bird, she could have almost sworn that it was glaring at her, shooting her a look of hatred that she wasn't even aware that birds were capable of. When her head tilted slightly in pure curiosity, the bird let out a loud caw and proceeded to almost immediately fly up into the bright blue sky. Deciding that she was probably just imagining things, the young woman resumed her idle sightseeing until the car came to a stop outside her friend Elena's house. Bonnie placed her hand down on the horn, informing Elena that she was parked outside, as her eyes flicked back at Veronica for a few moments. As Veronica looked at her in intrigue, Bonnie spoke to her, "Just a bit of advice, Ron, don't mention the accident, or anything else. Try and take her mind off it as best as possible." She commented, causing Veronica to nod silently in response just in time for Elena to get into the car, getting into the front with Bonnie. The young Gilbert girl gave the two Bennetts small and simple smiles in greeting, before she proceeded to pull the seatbelt over herself almost immediately.

"Hey, Lena." Bonnie broke the silence that had fallen within the car, and after making sure that Elena was safely buckled in, she started up the car engine. Once again, Elena merely responded with a smile, as a look of slight confusion formed on Veronica's expression as her sister began to drive away from the small suburban house that Elena now lived in with her aunt Jenna and her little brother.

"Is… Is Jeremy not coming in today?" Veronica spoke softly, asking after the boy who she hadn't seen in quite a while. Her and Jeremy had been incredibly close as children, with Veronica often choosing to hang around with Jeremy rather than with Elena, Caroline and her sister as quite often, hanging around with the young boy brought less drama for her than hanging out with the girls did. That was the way that it used to be anyway. Since he had started going around with Vicki Donovan and taking drugs, things had gotten much more complicated for him, and yet Veronica refused to give up on him and just label him a lost cause as so many others had done. Their relationship had gotten to the point where she viewed him as the brother that she never had, and the fact that he appeared to be avoiding her hurt her slightly, but she supposed that she understood it. Jeremy probably knew that she wouldn't be much help with dealing with his grief, but since the pair were almost like family, Veronica hoped that it would only be a short amount of time before he let her in.

"Well, he… he's already headed off on his own. I think walking will do him good." Elena responded simply to the question of the young woman, her dark coloured eyes looking back at the slightly younger Bennett that was sat in the back of the car. "He talked about you this morning, you know. I think he appreciates you wanting to be there for him, Ron, he just needs time." That was what they would always say when it came to grieving, that time would be able to heal all wounds. Veronica wasn't too sure if that was true. There were things in her life that had happened to her years ago, but the passage of time hadn't helped her to feel any better about what had happened. That was probably how Jeremy felt, but regardless, the young Bennett gave a small nod in response to Elena's words.

"I hope so." She spoke softly, as her attention soon returned to the view out the window and Elena and Bonnie began to idly talk about what the forthcoming year might hold. Veronica's attention was soon brought back to the inside of the car however, when her sister began to talk about their grandmother's theory about the pair of them- the theory that they were supposedly psychic. Of course, neither one of the Bennett siblings believed it, it was ridiculously to even think about, but neither one wanted to upset their grandmother who seemed adamant in her belief that the pair of them had some form of supernatural ability.

"Right. Okay, then predict something. About us." Elena commented. Bonnie giggled softly at the response of her friend, as she replied,

"Well… I did some reading yesterday, and I read Ron's fortune. She doesn't believe that a word of it is real, of course, but what was it that I predicted, Ronnie?" Her eyes temporarily broke away from the road to look up into the rear-view mirror at her sister, causing Veronica to softly sigh to herself, recalling the memory from yesterday with ease.

"You said that I was going to meet a girl who would change my entire view of my life, and a guy who will turn my world upside down and show me things that I've never known." Veronica recited her sister's exact words with a slight hint of monotony held in her voice, noticing the slight smirk that formed on Elena's lips because of her words.

"Ooh. A tall, dark, handsome stranger type of guy?" Elena teased playfully, causing Veronica to slightly turn a shade of red, her eyes looking down at the floor in a rather timid manner. "Well, if it is real, good for you, Ron. It's about time that you found someone, as Caroline loves to remind you." Veronica lightly bit down on her lower lip at the response of the young girl, giving a small shrug of her shoulders in response.

"I doubt it's real." Veronica responded in her usual timid tone, her voice slightly shaking as she spoke. "And anyway, even if it is real, there's no guarantee that there's going to be something romantic between me and this guy. Maybe it's just predicting that I'll make some nice new friends." She spoke, before her eyes looked at Bonnie. "What does Elena have in the year ahead, oh wise one?" Bonnie allowed a small laugh to fall from her lips at her sister's slightly sarcastic comment, as she continued to drive through the town centre. Her eyes looked away from the road, as she looked over at the girl that was sat in the passenger seat beside her.

"I see..." Bonnie began, causing Elena to softly smile at her, before there was an abrupt and loud bang on the windscreen as something presumably hit it, causing Bonnie to quickly swerve to the side, slamming her foot down on the brakes soon afterwards, causing the three occupants of the car to be thrown forward as the car quickly stopped, the seatbelts that they wore preventing them from hurting themselves. As her heart pounded at about a million miles an hour within her chest and her breath came out in nervous short pants, Veronica looked forward at her sister and close friend, noticing the look of pure terror that was held within Elena's eyes as she looked forward. Her body was tensed, with it being clear that the incident had reminded her of that night that she had been in the car with her parents, leaving Veronica not entirely sure what she should do.

"What was that?! Oh, my god! Elena, are you okay?" Bonnie spoke soon afterwards with panic in her voice, with her soon looking back to face her sister with slight fear in her eyes. "Ron, are you alright?" Veronica gave a small and simple nod in response to her sister's question, still working on catching her breath and calming herself down so that she would be able to focus on Elena and reassure the young Gilbert girl if it were at all necessary to do so.

"It's okay. I'm fine." Elena reassured the other two people with the car, with her body partially relaxing, a small exhale of breath falling from her lips as she brushed some of her hair away from her face. Veronica knew that she probably wasn't OK, but that she probably didn't want to worry or bother either of the girls by causing them worry.

"What did we hit?" Veronica piped up curiously once she had gotten her breath back and slightly reduced her heartrate, lightly placing a hand on Elena's arm in an attempt to try and comfort her which caused her to jump slightly, not expecting the contact. Almost immediately the young woman felt guilty for panicking her, and thus she pulled her hand away from her, Veronica's dark brown eyes soon going to look at her sister as she wanted an answer to her question. She knew for certain that they hadn't hit a person, as the thing that they had hit was too small to be so. It had completely come out of nowhere, and based off the fact that it had hit the windscreen, it couldn't have been a dog, so what the hell was it?

"It was like a bird or something. It came out of nowhere." Bonnie replied, worry still contained within her voice for the dark-haired girl that sat by her side, and based off the expression that was held on Elena's face, it was obvious that Bonnie did indeed have something to be worried about. If she were honest, the young Bennett had never felt more useless in her whole life. She wanted to be able to help her friend to deal and cope with her grief, and to help her to feel like her old self again, but she had no idea how. She'd never dealt with a major tragedy; her life had been relatively normal thus far.

"Really, I can't be freaked out by cars for the rest of my life." Elena spoke in a clear attempt to reassure the two girls that she was fine and that there was nothing for them to worry about. Her voice was now softened, lacking the terror that had held her voice previously, which was probably a good sign. It meant that she was finally beginning to calm down, no longer in her terrified state of mind. Bonnie allowed a smile to form on her lips at the response of Elena, as she gave a gentle nod in response, apparently finally accepting her reassurance that she was alright, and choosing to drop the subject. A look of slight confidence formed on the face of the slightly elder Bennett sibling, as she proceeded to state,

"I predict this year is going to be kick ass. And I predict all the sad and dark times are over and you are going to be beyond happy." A smile soon formed on Elena's lips at the promise of the young woman, as she gave a small nod, her dark coloured eyes looking back at the younger Bennett that was sat in the back of the car as Bonnie hesitantly went to start the car engine back up once more. Elena shot a small smile at Veronica, which the young Bennett returned almost immediately as the car began to move, heading off to Mystic Falls High School.

"It seems like our years are both going to be interesting, Ron." Elena spoke, as Veronica simply nodded in response.

She had no idea just how interesting things were about to get for her.

 **AN: And I'm going to end it there! Thank you very much for reading, I appreciate it! If you could please let me know what you think in a review, that'd be greatly appreciated, because I'm kinda nervous about this story. Anyway, thanks again for reading, and I will see you in the next chapter!**


	3. Chapter 2: It Started With Hello

**AN: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, any of the characters or the plot, that belongs to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. I solely own Dana and Veronica. All rights go to their original owners.**

Veronica slowly walked down the hallway, with Bonnie and Elena still by her side, being her usual rather quiet self. The young woman had a tendency when it came to school to just want to keep herself to herself, which was probably the reason why she didn't have very many friends except for Bonnie, Elena, Caroline, Matt and Jeremy. She had never been a very sociable person, and thus, she didn't really feel like interacting with those around her on a regular basis. The group of three soon reached the hallway that held her sister's locker, as Bonnie turned to Elena and commented, "Major lack of male real estate. Look at the shower curtain on Kelly Beech. She looks like a hot — can I still say "tranny mess"?" Veronica looked at her sister with a slight look of disbelief at her words, her brown eyes soon looking over at the young girl that they were referring to in an attempt to study her. Honestly, the girl's dress wasn't even that ugly. Veronica herself probably wouldn't wear it, as she had never been a fan of patterned clothing, but if the girl wanted to wear it, then that was her choice. She shot a look of discouragement at her sister as she unlocked her locker, before Elena decided to answer the question for her,

"No, that's over." Elena responded simply, a small smile pulling at her lips as she proceeded to rest against the cold metal surface of the lockers, causing a small exhale of breath to soon fall from Veronica's lips. If she'd had a bit more confidence, she'd have objected to her sister's words, and told her to not be so cruel, but as she wasn't that brave, she was forced to stay quiet and send small discouraging glares in her sister's direction. The younger Bennett lightly wrapped her arms around herself, watching as her sister began to pull textbooks out of her locker, placing them into her bag.

"Ahh, find a man, coin a phrase. It's a busy year." Bonnie mused in a light heart tone as she closed her locker, her eyes soon watching Elena as the young Gilbert girl proceeded to turn on her heel and look over at the young blond boy that was stood at his locker, dressed in a bright red sports jacket with a slightly hurt look on his face. Matt Donovan's bright blue eyes made contact with Elena's dark brown ones, as the three girls looked over at the blond boy. Veronica noticed that Matt seemed to hold a slight look of anger within his eyes, that soon faded once more to the familiar one of hurt that always seemed to haunt Matt's expression ever since Elena had broken up with him. In a rather awkward gesture, Elena raised one of her hands in a small and awkward wave to the boy just in time for him to slam his locker door shut. Matt did not return the greeting, with him merely looking at Elena for a few moments more, before he turned away from her and began to walk off. Elena sighed softly to herself as she proceeded to turn back around to face Bonnie and Veronica with a slightly saddened look held on her expression which caused a slight pang of sympathy to hit Veronica as a result.

"He hates me." Elena commented simply, causing Veronica to lightly bite down on her lower lip. She was sure that Matt didn't hate Elena, he was just upset because she had broken up with him shortly after her parents had died. But then, Veronica wasn't exactly an expert when it came to relationships seeing as she had never been in one before, and thus she had no practical advice that she could offer her friend. As a result, she turned her brown eyes to Bonnie, knowing that her sister was a little bit more experienced in matters of the heart and could therefore be more helpful to Elena.

"That's not hate." Bonnie reassured the young woman, a soft smile pulling at her lips. "That's "you dumped me, but I'm too cool to show it, but secretly I'm listening to Air Supply's greatest hits." Veronica allowed a small laugh to fall from her lips at the response of her sister, with her gently raising a hand once more and placing it on Elena's shoulder in what was supposed to be a supportive gesture.

"Don't worry, Elena. I doubt that he really hates you. This is Matt we're talking about. I don't think that he can hold a grudge against you for long." Veronica comforted the woman as Elena nodded softly in response, a slight look of gratitude soon forming in her eyes soon afterwards. She went to open her mouth to respond to the words of the two Bennett siblings, before she was abruptly cut off by a familiar blonde approaching them in her usual dramatic style, with Veronica moving slightly out of the way as she presumed that she wanted to talk to Elena.

"Elena. Oh, my god." Caroline spoke in her usual confident tone, almost immediately pulling Elena in for a hug, which resulted in Veronica shooting a small look of slight bemusement in her sister's direction. She supposed that was Caroline's way of showing that she supported and cared for Elena despite everything that she had been through, but based off the expression on Elena's face as the blonde hugged her, she just seemed more overwhelmed than anything else. It took Caroline a few moments to release her grip on Elena, with her bright blue eyes almost immediately looking over at Veronica and Bonnie who were still stood on the side-lines rather awkwardly. "How are you? Oh, it's so good to see you. How is she? Is she good?" Caroline asked softly, with concern held within her voice as her eyes soon settled onto Veronica. "Ronnie, you're the medical one here, is she alright? Has something happened?" As Veronica went to open her mouth in response and tell Caroline that she should probably ask Elena herself, the young brunette in question spoke first.

"Caroline, I'm right here. And I'm fine. Thank you." Elena reminded her, clearly forcing a smile onto her expression to reassure the blonde girl that she was alright, which caused a small exhale of breath to fall from Veronica's lips, although she chose not to say anything. She was just going to be there for her friend as best as she could be, and if that meant going along with her pretence of being alright, then so be it. Caroline returned her attention to Elena soon afterwards, with a small flicker of disbelief held on her expression. Apparently Caroline didn't truly believe Elena's pretence either.

"Really?" Caroline inquired, as Elena's smile grew slightly. She gave a small nod in response to Caroline's question, soon giving verbal confirmation in the form of,

"Yes. Much better." Almost immediately, Elena was pulled back into Caroline's tight grip, a small restrained breath falling from her lips to confirm just how tight Caroline's grip of her was in that moment. In an attempt to try and get the blonde to alleviate her grip, Veronica spoke softly,

"Caroline…" The blonde apparently didn't hear her, as she continued to cling onto the girl strongly, mumbling softly to the young Gilbert in her arms,

"Oh, you poor thing." Veronica looked back at Bonnie, almost as if she were seeking assistance in getting the blonde to slightly release her vice like hold on the still very sensitive and delicate Elena, noticing the small shrug of her shoulders that Bonnie gave in response to her look.

"Okay, Caroline." Elena spoke, the slight breathlessness in her tone apparently finally getting through to Caroline, as the blonde let go of her a few moments afterwards, a look of slight confusion and shock soon forming on her expression as her blue eyes met those of Elena.

"Oh! Okay, see you guys later?" Caroline asked, her voice regaining its typical perky tone, her attention briefly drifting to the two Bennett siblings that stood behind her, shooting them both bright smiles. Veronica returned the gesture with a small smile of her own, lightly fiddling with her satchel bag for a few moments in an almost idle fashion.

"Sure. See you around, Care." The younger Bennett sibling replied politely, causing the blonde female to shoot a small and kind wave in her direction before she turned on her heel and began to strut off in the other direction a short while later.

"OK! Bye!" Bonnie called after the blonde girl, not gaining a noticeable response as her attention turned to Elena. She gave a small roll of her eyes, as Elena proceeded to sigh and sarcastically comment,

"No comment." Veronica scoffed softly in response, turning on her heel as her sister began to turn around, giving a small shrug of her shoulders in response. Sure, that interaction had been a bit weird, but that was classic Caroline. She tended to make even the smallest and simplest things dramatic and entertaining.

"I'm not going to say anything." Bonne stated as the three girls began to walk down the corridor once more, with Veronica presuming that they were now heading to their homeroom before the bell went off in about fifteen minutes. The group walked in a comfortable silence for a matter of moments, before Bonnie and Elena abruptly came to a stop outside the school office, causing Veronica to look at the pair of them in confusion. Her brown eyes looked through the large glass window to the school office, soon realising what it was that had caught their attention. Stood at the secretary's desk was a young man, slightly taller than Veronica herself was, who was stood with his back to the group. Dressed in a black leather jacket and jeans, the young man appeared to be talking to the secretary about something, which implied that he was new to the school. The brown eyes of Veronica looked back at her sister and Elena with a look of slight disbelief held in her eyes.

"Hold up. Who's this?" Bonnie inquired curiously, a small smirk pulling at her lips as Veronica crossed her arms over her chest.

"All I see is back." Elena replied, apparently also hypnotised by the mysterious new boy, which caused Veronica to give a small roll of her eyes. They didn't even know the guy; it was a bit weird for them to be talking about him like this.

"It's a hot back." Bonnie mused, before she noticed the small roll of her sister's eyes, causing her to look up at her. "Oh, come on, Ron. Don't judge us. There's got to be a guy that interests you, or you'll find one eventually." Bonnie commented, causing Veronica to lightly raise an eyebrow in response.

"Well, I'm not all that interested in a guy's back. Sorry. I'd like to think that if I'm going to be attracted to someone, then I kind of need to look at their front first." Veronica responded softly, placing her hands into her pockets soon afterwards. "And regarding your other comment, the moment that you find a guy whose interests aren't just cars or having sex and is actually an interesting person to talk to, let me know, because that's what I want. I'm just gonna quickly go and get some books from my locker, have fun with your… back stalking." Veronica responded, causing Bonnie to give a small nod, her and Elena continuing to study the guy from behind as Veronica headed off down the hallway. She wandered idly for a few moments, before she turned the corner, and crashed into a girl, causing her to stumble backwards. "I'm sorry." Veronica apologised, managing to catch her balance before she completely fell over and made an idiot out of herself. Her brown eyes soon made contact with the girl, who was slightly taller than she was, not recognising her in the slightest. Her light brown hair reached just past her shoulders, straightened but still containing a slight element of carelessness as a result of the way that it looked slightly scruffy. Her bright blue eyes were piercing, and were perhaps the most vivid shade of blue that Veronica had ever encountered. They haunted her slightly, as they looked down at her.

"Oh… Don't worry. It's fine. I too have a tendency to stumble into random people, it's a real conversation starter." The young woman responded sarcastically, a small smirk pulling at her pale pink lips. "I'm looking for the school office. I'm new here, and I wasn't expecting to walk into a maze." Veronica responded with a smile of her own, as she nodded softly, and pointed down at her sister who was still lurking outside the office.

"Do you see that girl down there? The room that she's hanging around is the office. "Veronica helpfully directed the girl, who gave a simple nod in response to her comment, her intense blue eyes soon returning to look at the young dark skinned woman.

"Thanks." The mysterious girl responded, in an almost pretend tone of politeness as she lightly and hesitantly held out a hand for the girl to take. "I'm Dana. Dana Salvatore."

"Veronica Bennett. It's lovely to meet you." Veronica responded softly, taking hold of the girl's hand soon afterwards. As soon as her hand made contact with the skin of the young Salvatore girl, the young Bennett's head was berated with a series of images, which caused her to pull her hand back almost immediately as if she had been burned. Her dark coloured eyes widened slightly, as she looked at Dana who was staring at her in slight confusion. Her head tilted at a slight angle, studying the young girl before her whilst Veronica attempted to make sense of the images that had entered her mind when she had touched the girl. She had seen a black bird that was eerily similar to the one that she had seen staring at her from the fencepost earlier that morning, the figure of a tall, shadowy figure dressed in a black leather jacket, and the strangest image of them all, a young dark skinned woman who had been dressed in what Veronica could only describe as old fashioned clothes. What the hell did it all mean?

"Hello?" The sarcastic tones of Dana inquired, bringing Veronica out of her thoughts about the images that she had seen as her attention returned to the new girl once more. The look of confusion was still clearly held on the face of the woman, which caused Veronica to sigh softly and lightly rake a hand through her hair.

"Sorry, I, uh… I zoned out for a few moments there. Office is down there. The girl that's stood outside it is my sister, if you're lost ask her, she'll help. I need to go." The young woman responded awkwardly, giving Dana a small smile before she proceeded to begin to walk down the hallway, tightly clutching onto the strap of her satchel bag. Her bemused mind was still attempting to make sense of everything that she'd seen, with her brain practically spinning around in circles to try and make some form of sense of it all. As she came to a stop by her locker, the young woman felt a gentle exhale of breath fall from her lips as she proceeded to unlock her locker and began to pull out the books that she would need for the day ahead. She shook her head slightly to herself once she had closed the clocker and locked it back up again, knowing that she was probably just going insane or imagining things. More than likely, it was a combination of exam stress and a lack of sleep that had caused her to see those images. That's all that it was.

There was nothing weird about the new girl in school. That much was certain.

 **AN: And I'm going to end it there! Thank you very much for reading, I appreciate it! I would just like to say a massive thank you to everyone who favourited and followed this story so far, it really does mean a lot! I'm glad that you like this story! Anyway, please let me know what you thought about the chapter and I'll see you in the next one next week!**


	4. Chapter 3: Beginning To Doubt

**AN: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, any of the characters or the plot, that belongs to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. I solely own Dana and Veronica. All rights go to their original owners.**

Veronica took a small sip from the cup of coffee that she held in her hands as she walked to a table at the Mystic Grill, the town's local bar/restaurant, with her sister and Caroline. Naturally, the pair were talking about the boy from the office, who turned out to be a new student called Stefan, that Caroline seemed to have taken a very strong interest in, which was no real surprise. "His name is Stefan Salvatore." Caroline stated with a small smirk pulling at her lips, a slight look of mischief forming in her bright blue eyes as Veronica tensed slightly at the surname. Admittedly, it probably wasn't that much of a shock to discover that the two new students in school were related to each other, but the fact that Stefan was related to her gave her the potential to find out more about the girl that she had met earlier, to settle once and for all if she was truly going insane. "He lives with his uncle and his cousin up at the old Salvatore Boarding House. He hasn't lived here since he was a kid. Military family, so they moved around a lot. He's a Gemini, and his favourite colour is blue." Caroline continued to talk, her dark coloured eyes looking up at her blonde friend.

"You got all of that in one day?" Bonnie asked in slight surprise, clearly slightly impressed with Caroline's ability to gather up that much information within the span of a day, when she had only encountered Stefan a matter of mere hours ago. Caroline gave a small scoff in response to her friend's question, taking a small drink from the glass that she held within her hand.

"Oh, please, I got all that between third and fourth period. We're planning a June wedding." Caroline replied with an air of smugness and sarcasm held within her tone. After waiting a few moments to make sure that her sister wasn't planning on speaking once more, Veronica decided to pipe up and ask if her nosy and curious friend had any other knowledge on the mysterious girl that she had met in the hallway.

"Do you know anything about the cousin?" Veronica inquired innocently as she and her two friends sat down at a table, causing Caroline's head to tilt slightly and a look of curiosity to soon form on her expression.

"Not a lot." Caroline admittedly honestly with a small shrug of her shoulders. "Her name is… Dana, I think. Either that or Davina. She's in my English class, and she kept making sarcastic comments, so she clearly seems to think that she's a comedian. She knows an eerie amount about that stupid book we're reading, and based off the way that she reacted when I mentioned Stefan to her, she doesn't really like him all that much." The young blonde eventually concluded, placing her half full cup down on the table before her. "Why do you ask? Have you been making friends, Ronnie?" Veronica allowed a small scoff to fall from her lips at the response of her friend, taking another drink from the coffee that she'd ordered almost as soon as they'd arrived.

"You know me, Care, I'm Little Miss Socially Awkward, I don't make friends." Veronica replied in a light-hearted tone as a small smile pulled at her lips soon afterwards. "I just… I encountered her in the hallway earlier today and directed her to the office, and I was just curious about how deep your detective work was going." She replied, deciding to leave out the mention of the images that she had seen, knowing that Caroline would probably just laugh it off and put the blame on sleep deprivation as Veronica herself had done previously. Caroline gave a small nod in response to her question, before Veronica's attention returned to her sister upon hearing her start talking,

"Well, if it means anything, she's definitely not Stefan's biggest fan. She bumped into him in the office once she walked in, and the look of venom that she gave him was a tad ridiculous. I don't quite know what he did, but…" Bonnie began to talk, before she trailed off as her green eyes went to look at the doorway to the Mystic Grill. "Well, if you want to unleash that curiosity you're feeling about her, now's your chance." Bonnie spoke, causing Veronica to turn around so that she could see what it was that her sister was looking at, her brown eyes soon settling on the brown-haired girl that she had encountered in the hallway. Dana's haunting stare focussed on the younger Bennett sibling for a few moments, shooting her a small smile before she proceeded to walk across the room and sit down on one of the old and slightly worn down stools that were placed around the bar. Upon seeing that Veronica didn't even make a move to get up, Caroline proceeded to roll her eyes and get up on her feet, lightly dragging Veronica with her.

"We'll be back in a little bit, Bonnie." Caroline stated as she proceeded to confidently strut over to the girl that was sat at the bar, Veronica awkwardly following after her. She wasn't too sure what Caroline was up to, but when she got determined like this, she was almost slightly scary. She was determined to get answers, and no matter how hard Dana tried to avoid giving them, Caroline was going to get them. Her usual bright smile pulled at her face once they'd reached the bar, her blue eyes looking down at the brunette before her. "Hey! We met in English, I'm Caroline Forbes, remember?" She asked in her usual enthusiastic manner, holding out her hand to the girl as Dana looked up at her.

"I remember." Dana responded simply as the bartender brought over the drink that she had ordered, with it being a light amber coloured drink served in a small crystal glass. "Trust me, I don't think that I could ever forget meeting a person as… enthusiastic as you, no matter how hard I try." She added on in her usual slightly mocking tone, taking a small sip from her drink. "Can I help you?" The young woman asked, with there clearly being a slight amount of boredom held within her tone. Regardless, Caroline carried on in her pursuit of answers, her enthusiasm staying very permanent within her tone.

"Yeah. I've always been intrigued by a mysterious person, so tell me a bit about yourself." Caroline encouraged her, as Veronica wrapped her arms around herself in a very awkward manner. It was clear to her that Dana didn't want to talk to either of the young girls, and Veronica didn't feel right attempting to pressure her into doing so. If she didn't want to talk about her life, it wasn't right of Caroline or Veronica herself to try and force the girl to talk. Dana allowed a sigh to fall from her lips, as she proceeded to down her drink and slowly got onto her feet with her being just slightly shorter than Caroline.

"Listen, Blondie. No offence, but I know that you don't actually care about learning about me as a person, you want to know about Stefan. Well, I'm sorry to break it to you, but I'm not the gospel on Stefan Salvatore. If you want to know something about him, then go ask him yourself." Dana responded coldly, placing some money down on the counter to presumably pay for the drink that she had ordered. After giving a small look and nod of respect in Veronica's direction, the young woman proceeded to storm off and head towards the exit of the Grill, bumping into Stefan just as he was coming in with Elena. Veronica watched in intrigue as the young woman proceeded to glare up at the man that was supposedly her cousin, before she headed out of the building, slipping her hands casually into the pockets of her leather jacket as she did so.

"What was her problem?" Caroline questioned in slight disbelief and annoyance, her azure eyes looking at the dark-skinned woman by her side as she proceeded to turn to face her. Veronica gave a small shrug of her shoulders in response to her friend's question, not really having any idea why the new girl was being quite so adamant in her refusal to give answers or tell anything about herself other than her name and the fact that she was related to Stefan.

Perhaps there was something mysterious about the girl after all.

* * *

A small noise of boredom proceeded to fall from her lips as Veronica began to walk through the crunching leaves. It was incredibly cold outside to say the least, and she wasn't even sure why she was at this party in the first place. She had never exactly been a fan of loud music and she was one of those unusual teenagers who didn't drink all that much, so there wasn't really much of a point her being here. And yet, she had come here regardless, which she supposed might have had something to do with her sister practically blackmailing her to come here and spend the night with her and Elena. Sighing to herself, once the young girl had reached the large clearing that contained the huge fire that everyone had gathered around for warmth, her brown eyes began to look around for any sign of either her sister, Elena, Caroline or practically anyone else that she knew, with a boy who she vaguely recognised as being in her year approached her. He thrust an unopened beer bottle into her hands, slurring something at her that vaguely sounded like a 'you're welcome', before he stumbled off with his other drunken friends.

"Gee. Christmas has come early." Veronica mumbled softly to herself, looking down at the bottle in slight disregard, hoping that she would find a trash can at some point so that she could throw it away.

"What did that bottle ever do to you?" A now familiar cynical tone inquired, causing the young woman to look up as her brown eyes caught sight of Dana slowly but surely approaching her. "I mean, you're looking at it like it just tried to murder you or something." Veronica allowed a small scoff to fall from her lips as she gently brushed some of her dark coloured hair away from her face, giving the girl a small smile as she proceeded to hold out the bottle to her.

"I don't really drink all that much. Do you want it?" She inquired politely, as Dana proceeded to give a small shake of her head in response, casually slipping her hands into the pockets of her slightly faded jeans. Veronica nodded softly in response, her eyes soon catching sight of a trash bag that was placed up on a tree nearby. She walked over to it, throwing the bottle away, before she turned back to see that Dana was rather awkwardly following after her. "Are… Are you alright? Can I help you?" Veronica inquired, wondering why the girl who had been rather cold towards her in the past was now following her like a long-lost puppy. The young Salvatore allowed a small sigh to fall from her lips, as she proceeded to answer,

"I… I wanted to apologise for being nasty to you and your friend yesterday. I was in a bad mood, and… I just kicked off. I have a bit of a tendency to do that." Veronica nodded softly in response to the woman's comment, placing her hands into the pockets of her large black coat in an attempt to stay warm in the freezing cold evening.

"You don't have to apologise to me. And Care will get over it eventually. She always finds a way to bounce back." Veronica replied softly, giving a small shrug of her shoulders. "I don't quite understand what you're doing here though. I mean, no offence, but you don't really strike me as the type to go to these sorts of parties." Dana chuckled softly at the reply of the young woman, giving a small nod of her head in response.

"I'm not." Dana admitted simply. "But, I would rather spend an evening with a bunch of drunk idiots and get hit on by creeps than spend an evening with Zach talking about his plants. There's only so many times that you can hear about how roses are grown before you want to fall asleep standing up." The young woman added on with a small chuckle soon afterwards, as her bright blue eyes looked down at the slightly shorter dark haired girl before her. "Besides, I figured I may as well attempt to be sociable. At least then I can claim that I tried to make friends and it didn't work out. I mean, you and your blonde friend are the only ones who have actually said more than five words to me since I arrived in this town." Veronica nodded softly in response to the words of the young woman, picking up the sight of two figures who looked oddly like Elena and Stefan heading out towards the bright lit bridge across the falls. With a small smile pulling at her lips at the sight that proved that her damaged friend was finally beginning to make friends and potentially move on from the events of a few months ago, Veronica's attention soon returned to Dana.

"Well, seeing as I can't find anyone else that I recognise here, you're more than welcome to hang around with me. I'm not very interesting company though." Veronica offered kindly to the girl, causing Dana to give a small nod in response.

"I'm sure that's not true. I guarantee that you are much more interesting than you perceive yourself to be, Veronica." Dana commented, a small knowledgeable smile soon pulling at her lips which intrigued Veronica significantly. In her eyes, she was the very definition of ordinary, with there being practically nothing that was actually all that interesting about her. What had the girl meant by that? "I'll tell you what, let's play a game, shall we? You ask me one question about myself, and then I get to find out something about you in return. We can satisfy your incredibly curious friend too that way, cause then you can give her all the latest info on the mysterious stranger in town. How does that sound?" Dana inquired, causing Veronica to give a small shrug of her shoulders.

"Where are you from?" Veronica inquired softly, her head gaining a small tilt. She decided that she should probably start off with slightly easier stuff that the girl might be more willing to share.

"Originally, I'm from Chicago." Dana replied helpfully, kicking up a few of the dry leaves that were scattered on the floor as the pair began to slowly wander around and through the busy crowds of teenagers that had gathered around. "But, I've travelled since then. I've been to a lot of places. New York, New Orleans, Phoenix. I've been all over. Oh, the many joys and benefits of having a family like mine." Dana answered, with Veronica noticing the small amounts of emotion that was held within her voice as she spoke about her family. It was almost as though this were a soft subject for her, thus causing Veronica to make a mental note not to bring them up at any point during this slight interrogation. "What's your family like?" Dana inquired, causing Veronica to lightly bite down on her lower lip.

"I have a twin sister, Bonnie, I'm sure you've met her. We live with our dad, but… he travels a lot for work so we don't get to see him all that much. And then there's my grandmother. She teaches Occult at the nearby college. She's absolutely insane at times, but me and Bon love her, so that doesn't really matter." Veronica answered, deliberately leaving out all mention of her mother who had walked out on her and Bonnie when they were very young. She tried not to think about her too often. She lightly brought up a hand to run it through her hair, trying to come up with another question for her to ask, settling on the first question that came to her mind. "What's your middle name?" Dana raised an eyebrow in a sceptical manner, clearly slightly confused by the rather generic question that the young woman had asked, but she chose to answer it regardless.

"Isabella." Dana answered, as she crossed her arms over her chest. "I thought you were smarter than that. So, anyway, why do you think your grandmother is crazy? Does she have a lot of cats or something?" Veronica tilted her head slightly at the question of the young woman, a small scoff soon falling from her lips.

"No. She just… She keeps going on about how me and Bonnie are… witches or psychics or something, which is crazy." Veronica answered, as a small cunning smirk pulled at Dana's lips.

"Is it?" She inquired vaguely. "Is it that outside the realm of possibility?" Veronica couldn't believe what she was hearing. Surely she was drunk, right? There was no other way that she could be seriously suggesting that witches were actually real, and that she was one of them. Dana tapped her foot, waiting for the young Bennett to respond, as Veronica sighed softly.

"Yes. Yes, it is. Witches are just stories, that's all. I'm not a witch. Nor is Bonnie. So, what's your issue with Stefan? He's your cousin, right?" Veronica inquired, deciding to get right to the heart of the issue. Dana's eyes looked down at the dark orange and brown leaves beneath her feet as her hands slipped further into her pockets. She opened her mouth to go and speak, before the sound of Elena's voice shouting out for help brought Veronica's attention away from the woman. Almost immediately, Veronica began to get closer to the source of the noise, hoping that something hadn't happened to Jeremy. Her eyes soon caught sight of the limp, unmoving body of Vicki Donovan held precariously in the arms of Jeremy and Elena, noticing the obvious crimson mark on her neck. Almost immediately, the medical instincts of the young Bennett kicked in, with her dashing through the crowd to get to Elena and Jeremy so that she could try and help in any way that she could. Just as she reached Vicki and began to study the mark on her neck, the panicked sounds of Matt Donovan, Vicki's brother, reached her ears.

"Vicki? Vicki, what the hell?!" Matt demanded to know as he too pushed his way through the crowds, his eyes looking helplessly at Veronica as soon as he realised that she was there. "Ronnie, please, help her." He begged softly, as Veronica continued to study the marks that were held on the woman's neck, soon realising in slight fear that they were bite marks. The distant sounds of Tyler Lockwood, the mayor's son, asking what had happened and Matt begging for someone to call for an ambulance reached the girl's ears, although she chose not pay a lot of attention as she took hold of a piece of fabric that someone was holding out to her so that she could press it to Vicki's neck in an attempt to apply enough pressure to stop the bleeding, or at the very least, slow it down slightly. "Vicki, Vicki, come on, open your eyes, look at me." Matt's voice was filled with nothing but fear as he pleaded for his unconscious sister to open her eyes or respond to him in some way, as Veronica tried her hardest to focus on saving the young woman's life.

"Dana, can you call an ambulance?" Veronica requested, assuming that the brunette had followed her once more and would be close enough to hear her, as she looked over her shoulder briefly. The young woman was rather surprised to discover that the young woman was nowhere to be seen. It was almost as if she had completely disappeared. "Dana?"

And that was just the beginning of weird things surrounding the girl that was Dana Salvatore.

 **AN: And I'm going to end it there! Thank you for reading; I hope you enjoyed! Thank you so much to all of you for reading, favouriting and following this story, I'm so shocked that people actually like this story! Alaric will eventually show up, just in case anyone's wondering, I just want to give you a couple of chapters introducing you to Dana and Veronica before I leap into the love story! Anyway, thank you again for reading, and I'll see you next week for the next update!**


	5. Chapter 4: Hello Darkness

**AN: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, any of the characters or the plot, that belongs to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. I solely own Dana and Veronica. All rights go to their original owners.**

Dana pulled her wrist back violently as Stefan eventually came to a stop outside the large boarding house that belonged to their relative Zach, taking a moment to shoot a hate filled glare in his direction. "What the hell, Stefan?" The female demanded to know as she followed the male inside the large building, as Stefan shot her a slightly discouraging look as Zach turned to face the bickering young adults stood in the hallway. Stefan sighed, coming to a pause at the bottom of the steps as he turned to face the girl.

"So, what did Vicki do to deserve that? Did she bump into you at the drinks table or something?" A look of slight disbelief soon formed on Dana's expression at the words of the man, as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"I didn't touch the annoying Donovan girl, Stefan." Dana responded simply, noticing the look that was held within Zach and Stefan's eyes that seemed to suggest the neither one of the pair believed her. "Oh, for the love of… Look, none of this is me! I haven't hurt anyone since I came back into town. I know it's hard to believe, but unlike you, I don't have fun by hurting people. I was with Veronica Bennett all evening; you can ask her." Stefan's expression softened at the words of the young woman, as he took a few steps back from her, a look of slight confusion soon appearing on his face.

"Does anyone want to explain to me what the hell's going on?" Zach inquired from his position in the entranceway to the parlour, causing Dana to give a small shrug of her shoulders in response.

"Someone else was attacked tonight, Zach, and it wasn't me." Stefan responded softly, his attention soon returning to Dana. "And if it wasn't you either, then who the hell was it?" Dana stood there for a few moments, taking in the conclusion of her relative, before Stefan proceeded to almost immediately turn on his heel and dash up the stairs. The young Salvatore let out a sigh of frustration as she proceeded to stomp up the stairs after him, deciding that it was probably best to attempt to figure out who the mystery attacker was, rather than just leave it until someone else got hurt. She followed Stefan into his large bedroom, her arms still crossed defiantly over her chest.

"Listen, don't you think that it's…." The woman began, before the sound of a caw reached her ears, causing her to become incredibly aware that someone as stood a few inches ahead of them, watching them. Her bright blue eyes turned away from Stefan, as she caught sight of a very familiar figure dressed completely in black stood out just in front of the slightly open window. The man's own cold blue eyes looked over at Stefan and Dana, as a small arrogant smirk pulled at his lips soon afterwards. With his hands placed in his pockets, the man almost immediately gave off a careless attitude, with the slight darkness that seemed to radiate off of him causing Dana to tense slightly.

"Damon." Stefan spoke first, shattering the silence that had fallen since they had noticed the man's presence in the room, causing the dark-haired male's smirk to grow slightly.

"Hello, brother." Damon responded casually, as his icy coloured eyes looked down at the slightly shorter brunette female. "Dana." Dana gave a small and simple nod in response to the small greeting of the man, her own bright blue eyes gaining a slightly cold edge as she looked up at him. It had been a while since she'd seen Damon.

"Crow's a bit much, don't you think?" Stefan inquired with a small hand gesture towards the window, presumably implying that the caw that Dana had heard was a crow that Damon somehow managed to control.

"Wait till you see what I can do with the fog." Damon replied in an arrogant tone, taking a few steps towards the pair, which resulted in Dana taking a small step backwards and away from the elder male vampire that seemed to be determined to try and annoy Stefan as quickly as he was able to do so. "Aw, don't look so angry, Dana. I know that you're overjoyed to see me again. Don't try and deny it." Damon added on, causing Dana to softly scoff in response.

"When'd you get here?" Stefan asked, interrupting the interaction between the two, presumably in an attempt to prevent Damon from saying something to annoy Dana and result in her attempting to attack him. That was presumably what he wanted, to try and provoke a visible response from either one of his relatives.

"Well, I couldn't miss your first day at school. Your hair's different. I like it." Damon commented in a conceited tone of voice, as he continued to wander around the room, his eyes studying his brother for a few moments. "And as for you, Dana, well, you never change. But I figured it'd be amusing to watch you try and settle in with children who are actually normal and see how long you can last without making them all want to kill you."

"Good to see you're still full of yourself. Something's never change." Dana commented in a cynical tone of her own, causing a small chuckle to gently come from Damon's lips.

"Dana, be quiet." Stefan instructed, earning him a small glare from the girl who nevertheless silenced herself soon afterwards, returning to just observing Damon and taking a few steps back if he ever got too close to her. "It's been 15 years, Damon." He added on. "Probably even more than that since you last saw Dana." Damon shrugged his shoulders simply in response, another small scoff soon falling from his lips.

"Thank God. I couldn't take another day of the nineties. That horrible grunge look? Did not suit you. And Dana, no offence, but that hideous flower thing that you used to wear around your neck was perhaps the ugliest thing that I've ever seen. Remember guys, it's important to stay away from fads." Damon reminded them in a slightly joking tone, with Stefan lightly placing a hand on Dana's shoulder almost as if he were attempting to dissuade the girl from going for him, which caused Dana to scowl at him once more, and pull her shoulder away from his hand in a matter of seconds.

"Why are you here?" Stefan inquired as he allowed his hand to fall down to his side, making Damon gently shrug his shoulders once more as if the answer to his question were obvious.

"I miss my little brother, and my adorable and fiery little baby cousin. Is that such a bad thing?" The raven-haired male asked in an almost innocent tone, causing Dana to roll her eyes in response. It was obvious that was not what he was here for. In the entire time that she had known Damon, he'd never really cared about family, certainly not about Stefan and what he was up to. There was some sort of ulterior motive here, it was just a matter of finding it.

"You hate small towns. It's boring. There's nothing for you to do." Stefan spoke, clearly sharing Dana's disbelief about the reason behind Damon's return to the small town of Mystic Falls. The look of cynicism that was held on Stefan and Dana's faces caused the raven haired elder Salvatore to chuckle to himself.

"I've managed to keep myself busy. As have you two, I've noticed." Damon responded simply, causing Stefan to sigh and shake his head slightly.

"You know, you left that girl alive tonight. That's very clumsy of you." Stefan commented as he crossed his arms over his chest, causing Damon to give a small and simple shrug of his shoulders in response to his words.

"Ah. That can be a problem...for you two." Damon emphasised the final two words of the sentence with a slight hint of menace held within his tone, that caused a look of slight bemusement to form on Dana's expression. Was this part of Damon's plan? Was he that determined to get rid of his family members that he was willing to kill people and potentially frame the both of them for their deaths? Staying silent and continuing to observe the scene before her just in case she noticed anything especially obvious about Damon's plan from his body language or his responses, Dana's head tilted slightly.

"Why are you here now?" Stefan reworded his question from previously, clearly very intent on finding out something that Damon was not willing to reveal at that moment in time, which Dana presumed meant that they would be very unlikely to actually get any form of answer.

"I could ask you the same question. However, I'm fairly certain your answer can be summed up all into one little word...Elena." Damon commented, as Dana looked up at Stefan, noticing the slight look of terror that appeared in the male's green eyes at the mention of the young Gilbert girl that Dana had noticed that he had been spending a lot of time with lately. "She took my breath away. Elena. She's a dead ringer for Katherine. Is it working, Stefan? Being around her, being in her world? Does it make you feel alive?" Damon wanted to know, before his blue eyes settled on the woman in the room. "And as for you, dear little Dana, what is your obsession with the Bennett girl? I saw you, running around after her like she was the most precious thing in the world. You deliberately walked into her in that hallway, and then at that… lamest excuse for a party I've ever seen, you followed her around like you were afraid to lose her. Why? I'm intrigued. Have you finally made friends, Dana?" Dana looked at the raven-haired male that stood before her, with a slight look of hatred forming in her eyes as she ignored all of Stefan's silent warnings and her own instincts as she approached Damon.

"If you even think about hurting her, Damon…" Dana began, as a small smirk soon pulled at her lips. "I'll kill you. And as for what I'm doing with her… I guess that's for me to know and you to find out, isn't it? I'm not going to give away my masterplan, I'm not an idiot." Damon laughed at the response of the young woman, giving a small nod in response.

"Elena's not Katherine." Stefan commented, finally regaining his voice, as Damon's attention was brought away from Dana and back to his sibling.

"Well, let's hope not. We both know how that ended. Tell me something, when's the last time you had something stronger than a squirrel?" Damon inquired, studying the two vampires that stood before him. "That applies to the both of you." Dana raised an eyebrow at the response of the vampire, a small sigh soon falling from her lips.

"I drink from blood bags that I steal from the local hospital." Dana responded simply to his question, giving a small shrug of her shoulders. "It's not ideal, but it works. As for him, don't question his super special moral code. You know what he's like with blood." Stefan looked at his cousin with a slight expression of confusion on his face, clearly rather confused as to why the girl who supposedly hated him so much was sticking up for him, but Stefan soon shot her a small look of gratitude.

"I know what you're doing, Damon. It's not gonna work." Stefan added, standing defiant in the face of his brother who was clearly trying to push him over the edge now, something that Damon was a practical expert at doing. Damon sneered at the male's response, as he began to approach him slowly, a look of slight cunning soon forming on his expression.

"Yeah? Come on. Don't you crave a little?" Damon encouraged him, the arrogant smirk soon returning to his expression, as he began to lightly hit his brother on the chest with his flattened palm, trying to provoke him once more.

"Damon." Dana cautioned with a small growl, noticing the way that Stefan was reacting, clearly trying to get away from his brother before he completely snapped as a result of his comments about Elena.

"Stop it." Stefan instructed with a shaking air of authority, clearly trying to get a handle on himself before his natural vampire instincts took over and caused him to fight back.

"Damon, stop!" Dana spoke, the volume of her voice increasing. She was aware that the vampire would probably just ignore her until he got what he wanted, but she figured that she may as well try and help Stefan out. She might hate him, but at the same time, she didn't want him to lose complete control over himself.

"Let's do it. Together. I saw a couple girls out there. Or just, let's just cut to the chase, let's just go straight for Elena." Damon shouted, the aggression in his hits to his brother's chest increasing as he spoke. "Perhaps while we're on our way back, we can stop by Veronica's house. I'm sure her and her sister are practically delicious." Dana shot an aggressive glare at him, going to speak once more, before she noticed the familiar veins beginning to slowly appear under Stefan's slowly darkening green eyes. He was beginning to lose it.

"Stop it!" Stefan snapped at him angrily, as Dana shot an angry glare at the raven-haired male, wanting him to stop before he actually went off and did what he was talking about.

"Oh, come on! Just imagine it! Just imagine how their blood must taste!" Damon exclaimed, and before Dana had a chance to interrupt and tell the vampire to get out of the Boarding House, Stefan turned around, his face quickly shifting into full vampire mode, with nothing but pure anger held on his face. "I can." Damon spoke, the smile on his face revealing that the response from Stefan was exactly what he had wanted.

"I said stop!" Stefan yelled, proceeding to quickly rush at Damon, grabbing hold of him as he proceeded to dash through the large glass window, jumping out. Dana almost immediately sped over to the shattered window pane, her eyes watching for a few moments as Stefan proceeded to slowly but surely get up. The thing that scared Dana the most was the lack of Damon around her cousin, as she proceeded to jump through the broken space in the window, landing gracefully on the cement below. She rose from the hands and knees position that she had landed in, taking a moment to brush the remaining dirt off of her faded jeans. Her bright blue eyes soon caught sight of Damon, casually resting against a nearby wall in a casual manner as if nothing had happened.

"I was impressed. I give it a six. Missing style, but I was pleasantly surprised. Very good with the whole face...thing. It was good." Damon commented sarcastically. "Dana, however, excellent landing. I'd give you at least an eight." Dana looked over at the male with a discouraging look, as her attention turned to Stefan as the male vampire proceeded to get up onto his feet soon afterwards, walking towards Dana, and thus towards Damon.

"You know, it's all fun and games, Damon, huh? But wherever you go, people die." Stefan commented, clearly not being amused in the slightest by Damon's sarcastic and playful attitude about everything that was going on, as Dana crossed her arms over her chest. Damon playfully rolled his eyes in response to his brother's words.

"That's a given." Damon replied as if the answer were obvious, taking a few steps towards Stefan once more, the closing of space between the two siblings only adding to the ridiculously thick amounts of tension that existed within that moment.

"Not here. I won't allow it." Stefan simply replied in a slightly bitter tone, as Dana gave a small shrug of her shoulders to show her muted agreement with the statement. Admittedly, she didn't really care all that much about the residents of Mystic Falls, but she knew that if Damon started killing people, it would only be a matter of time before attention was drawn to them and that was the very last thing that they needed.

"I take that as an invitation." Damon replied in his usual egotistical tone, clearly having no regard for Stefan's words or his threats, as he gave a small shrug of his shoulders.

"Damon, please. After all these years, can't we just give it a rest?" Stefan attempted to implore him, clearly tired of all the fighting that was happening between them, and had been happening for decades. "Or, at the very least, leave Dana and her friend out of this. She's not the one who clearly annoyed you so much." Dana looked at Stefan for a moment, rather intrigued by the fact that the arrival of Damon had apparently caused the two vampires who hated each other so much to stick up for each other of their own accord.

"I promised you an eternity of misery, so I'm just keeping my word." Damon replied with a small shrug of his shoulders, before his eyes looked to Dana once more. "And besides, I like messing with Dana. It's always very entertaining to watch her try and be intimidating and scare me. No one is scarier than me, Dana, you just have to accept that." Dana shot a small glare at him as a result of his words, as she proceeded to reply,

"It's been a while since you last saw me, Damon. I've changed a bit in that time. I'm not that girl anymore." Damon shot her a clear look of doubt at her statement, but before he had a chance to object to the statement of the young woman, Stefan cut him off once more.

"Just stay away from Elena and Veronica. They have nothing to do with this." Stefan instructed, as Damon smirked to himself at the response of the man, which caused slight worry to run through Dana. The smirk on Damon's lips usually meant trouble, and that was never a good thing whenever Damon was involved. A look of mock surprise soon formed on the elder vampire's lips, as he gestured to Stefan's hand.

"Where's your ring?" Damon asked, causing Stefan and Dana to both look in confusion at Stefan's hand, soon noticing the lack of Stefan's daylight ring that kept him protected from the sun's rays. A look of slight fear appeared on the vampire's expression, as he looked back up at his brother. "Oh, yeah, sun's coming up in a couple of hours, and, poof, ashes to ashes." Damon added on, before he proceeded to hold up the ring in his hand. Almost instantly, Dana used her vampire speed to jump the male when he was least expecting it, grasping hold of the small silver ring just in enough time for Damon to use his superior strength to send the young female vampire flying back. She hit the ground with a bang, as her attention soon went to Stefan. As Stefan went to rush his brother once more, Damon grasped hold of Stefan around the throat harshly, and send him flying back into the nearby metal garage door. A loud clatter filled the air as Stefan made contact with the door, with his frame soon falling to the floor, Damon standing victorious above the pair of them. "You should know better than to think you're stronger than me. You lost that fight when you stopped feeding on people. I wouldn't try it again. And as for you, Dana," Damon commented as he looked down at the girl on the floor, "you're lucky that I like you. Because I would be mad otherwise." Dana shot an angry look in his direction as she slowly got back on her feet, keeping a tight hold on the ring that she had stolen back from Damon. "I think we woke Zach up. Sorry, Zach." Damon called as he began to walk off, just as the lights of the Boarding House turned on once more, revealing that Zach was beginning to investigate what the hell was going on. Once Damon was safely out of the way, Dana approached Stefan as he rose to his feet, holding out the small ring to the male. Stefan took it, and slipped it back on his finger in a matter of seconds, his green eyes looking up at the female before him.

"Thank you." Stefan spoke, as Dana gave a small and simple shrug of her shoulders in response.

"Don't mention it." She responded, just as Zach dashed out of the house and looked up at the shattered window in slight horror.

Something told Dana that this was just the beginning of a much more hectic chain of events. This was not the last that they were going to see of Damon.

And she was right.

 **AN: And I'm going to end it there! Thank you for reading; I hope you enjoyed! I just want to thank all of you again for reading, favouriting, following and reviewing, it means a lot! I worked very hard on this story, as you can probably tell from how incredibly long these chapters are, I've been working on it since October, so the fact that people actually like it means a lot! I'm sorry if this chapter was a bit bad, I kinda wanted to progress the plot a bit more, and show you some more of the entire Salvatore family interacting with Dana! Veronica will be back next chapter! Anyway, thank you again for reading, please let me know what you thought, and I'll see you in the next chapter next week!**


	6. Chapter 5: Suspicion Rises

**AN: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, any of the characters or the plot, that belongs to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. I solely own Dana and Veronica. All rights go to their original owners.**

Veronica delicately brushed some of her dark coloured hair away from her face as she headed out of her lesson with Mr Tanner. As the young woman walked, she soon felt herself colliding with someone, causing her to stumble slightly. As she regained her balance, she realised that it was Jeremy that she had crashed into, with the boy who had once been her closest friend dressed completely in black, his hands shoved into his pockets and the large hood of his hoodie covering most of his face. Veronica's expression softened, as she smiled at the boy, adjusting her bag strap for a few moments. "Hey Jer." Veronica greeted the boy softly, taking the fact that he was in school to be a good sign, although she highly doubted that he had come here of his own accord. Jenna had probably forced him to go. "How's Vicki? Have you seen her today?" Veronica asked, knowing that Vicki meant a lot to the young boy. Jeremy didn't respond to her question, merely shooting a small discouraging look in her direction before he replied,

"I have to go." Veronica went to open her mouth to speak, before the young boy proceeded to head off, leaving the young woman by herself. She softly sighed to herself, attempting not to allow Jeremy's blatant ignoring of her to bother her, as she soon met up with Caroline and Bonnie just as they came through the large double doors at the end of the hallway.

"Hey, Ronnie!" Caroline greeted the young dark haired female in her usual enthusiastic tone, shooting her a bright smile, as Veronica returned a weak one of her own, her heart still slightly heavy within her chest. She was worried about Jeremy, just the mere sight of him looking quite so upset and acting so cold towards her having re-sparked her instinctual concern for the boy that she considered to be her brother. "Are you OK?" Caroline inquired, apparently having noticed the slightly negative vibe that the young Bennett gave off, causing her to lie and give a small nod in response. Despite the slightly doubtful look that soon formed on Bonnie's expression, apparently picking up on Veronica's complete inability to lie, the pair chose to drop the topic as the three of them walked down the busy hallway on the way to their next lesson. "Right, so, going back to what you were saying. I'm a bit confused. Are you psychic or clairvoyant?" Caroline asked, with Veronica soon assuming that her sister had been telling Caroline about the multiple conversations that they'd had with their grandmother about how they both had magical powers.

"Technically, Grams says we're both witches. Our ancestors were these really cool Salem witch chicks or something. Grams tried to explain it all, but she was looped on the liquor so I kinda tuned out. Crazy family, yes. Witches? I don't think so." Bonnie commented in a highly cynical tone, causing Veronica to softly smile and nod in agreement. The mention of the pair being witches reminded the young Bennett of the conversation that she'd had the night before with Dana, reminding her of how quickly the young brunette had abruptly disappeared once Vicki had been dragged out of the woods. It was weird, and Veronica's curiosity was piqued to say the least.

"Hmm. It's weird how she keeps going on about it though, don't you think? I was having this conversation with Dana last night, before she pulled a Houdini and magically vanished. She seemed to be convinced that witches were real, but I didn't get a chance to ask her why. I don't suppose either of you have seen her around, have you?" Veronica inquired, hoping that perhaps if she could just ask Dana why she had disappeared, then her natural curiosity would be settled. Caroline slightly rolled her eyes at the question of the young dark haired girl, as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"No, I haven't seen your mysterious new best friend, Ronnie. Perhaps it's best that you just leave her to her whole… weird loner thing. Especially if she believes in witches." Caroline advised her friend, before her attention returned to Bonnie. "Feel free to conjure up the name and number of that guy from last night at any point, Bon." She commented, causing a bright smile to form on Bonnie's face, and one of slight confusion to form on Veronica's face. After Vicki had been taken to the hospital, she'd headed home, so she had no idea in the slightest what the pair were talking about.

"I didn't see him, you did. Why didn't you just talk to him?" Bonnie asked in a slightly teasing tone, causing Caroline to give a small shrug of her shoulders, the bright and determined smile never once fading from her lips.

"I don't know. I was drunk." Caroline replied simply, causing Veronica's head to tilt slightly.

"What guy are we talking about?" She inquired curiously, as Caroline looked back at her, a slight look of mischief on her expression.

"Only the most perfect guy I've ever seen. At the Grill last night, I saw a guy, and he was gorgeous. Dark hair, bright blue eyes…" Caroline trailed off with a small sigh, causing Veronica to lightly raise an eyebrow. "But, I didn't get a chance to speak to him. I don't know if I'll ever see him again…" Caroline trailed off as they turned around the corner, giving a small roll of her eyes as she gestured down the hallway. "Well, I've found your secretive new friend, Ron. Make sure she doesn't try and get you into any cults." She stated, with Veronica's dark brown eyes soon following her gaze to see Dana stood in front of her locker, pulling out some books and placing them into her backpack. Veronica shot her blonde friend a slightly discouraging look, before she gave the pair a small wave in goodbye, heading over to the young Salvatore at her locker.

"Hey." Veronica greeted her softly once she reached her, causing Dana's blue eyes to look over at her, a small smile soon pulling at her expression.

"Oh, hi." She greeted her as she slammed the thin metal door shut, locking it up once more. "What's up?" The female asked as she lightly rested in a casual manner against the large wall of lockers, her eyes looking up at Veronica curiously.

"Last night, you… disappeared rather suddenly. I just thought you'd want to know how Vicki was, seeing as you dashed off so quickly." The young Bennett spoke, deciding to be rather subtle with her line of questioning regarding where it was that she had dashed off to the previous night. It might seem rather confrontational if she just outright asked where she had headed off to, and Veronica had never been a fan of confrontation.

"Oh." Dana commented, crossing her arms over her chest. "Yeah, about that, I just… I'm not really a big fan of blood. So, when I saw the blood, I had to get out of there pretty quickly." Veronica felt nothing but pure scepticism run through her veins at Dana's words. The slight hesitation that was held behind her words suggested that she was lying, an indication which only further increased the young Bennett girl's curiosity. "And, no offence, but I don't really care about Vicki Donovan. At all. I've only spoken to her once, which was yesterday, and she seemed incredibly annoying." Veronica nodded softly at her conclusion about Vicki Donovan, finding that she partially agreed. Admittedly, she didn't really interact with Vicki all that much, but she seemed to be rather obnoxious to say the least, and she wasn't too sure about how she treated Jeremy. She knew that she probably shouldn't judge Jeremy for wanting to hang around with Vicki, given her choice of friends, but she knew that Vicki was trouble. She just didn't want Jeremy to get hurt because of her. "Hey, um, Earth to Veronica?" Dana asked, bringing Veronica out of her thoughts, as her attention returned to the girl before her. "You know that research that Tanner set us? I have literally no idea what I'm doing. Do you mind helping me with it, maybe one day after school?" Veronica felt her usual kind smile pull at her lips at the question of the young woman, as she gave a nod in response.

"I'd be more than happy to." Veronica replied honestly. A part of her hoped, that perhaps if she spent more time with Dana, then she would be able to satisfy her natural curiosity and her overactive imagination would realise that there was nothing weird about the girl or her family.

"Great." Dana replied, as she pushed herself up from her previous resting place on the lockers. As she went to speak, Veronica noticed Tyler Lockwood walking past, his head looking down at his phone as he proceeded to bump into Dana, sending the Salvatore girl stumbling off to the side. A brief flicker of anger formed in her blue eyes as she regained her balance, as Tyler looked up from his phone. "Do you mind?!" Dana snapped at him, causing Tyler to look at her in slight confusion, with Veronica awkwardly shooting a look of discouragement in her direction. She didn't really like Tyler all that much, finding him to be quite an arrogant boy who had done several horrible things to her in past, she happened to know that Tyler was sort of dating Vicki Donovan. He was likely to be a little bit out of things today, as were Matt and Jeremy.

"What?" Tyler asked, his brown eyes looking at the girl. "Honestly, I think that you should look where you're going in future." Tyler spoke with a slightly harsh tone, briefly looking at Veronica for a few moments, as he added on, "Ron, perhaps you should teach your friend that there's certain people that you shouldn't question here, don't you?" Veronica's large dark coloured eyes looked up at the boy that she'd known since she was young, going to answer his question, before she was abruptly cut off by Dana proceeding to grasp hold of Tyler by the jacket, rather violently slamming him against the wall of large metal lockers, a loud bang soon filling the hallway as the young male's muscled body made contact with the metal lockers. Veronica took a step back in surprise as Dana seemed to hold Tyler against the lockers with an almost eerie amount of strength, her eyes looking up at him with pure anger held within them. No matter how hard Tyler, a boy who Veronica had always considered to be possibly the strongest one in school, struggled against the seemingly fragile girl's strength. With solely her arm pressed against his neck, Dana managed to hold the boy up with seemingly little to no effort on her part.

"Still think that you can boss me around, Lockwood? I think you'll find that I'm not quite as easy for you to belittle. Sorry." Dana commented with a small smirk pulling at her lips, as Veronica raised a hand and held it out to Dana, as part of her attempt to try and get the girl to calm down and release her tight grip on Tyler. Her aversion to confrontation prevented her from just forcefully dragging Dana off of the young dark haired boy.

"Dana!" A male voice soon snapped, causing the brunette female to look over her shoulder, with Veronica soon doing the same, and seeing Stefan and Elena stood a few inches away from the pair. A sensation of relief soon ran through Veronica, knowing that Stefan would be able to break up the potential fight before anything bad happened. Dana simply rolled her eyes at Stefan's presence, as the young Salvatore boy approached the girl who was still pinning Tyler against the wall. "Let him go. Now." Stefan instructed, causing Dana to sigh in annoyance, as she hesitantly brought her arm down and released the boy as she took a step back from him. Tyler looked at the girl, annoyance clear in his expression as he did so, before he proceeded to head off in the other direction, his feet making stomping noises on the floor. Veronica looked back at Dana, who was busy rolling her eyes as Stefan went to lecture her. Clearly not planning on listening to a word Stefan was going to say, she proceeded to shoot a small smile in Veronica's direction, before walking off, leaving Stefan behind with a look of frustration on his face and Veronica with a look of confusion on her face.

What the hell was Dana Salvatore, and how was she able to do what she had just done?

 **AN: And I'm going to end it there! Thank you for reading; I hope you enjoyed! I know that until now I've been updating once a week every Friday, but, at that rate, Alaric wouldn't arrive in this story until July, and I don't want to make you guys wait that long to truly get into the story. So, after thinking for a little while, I've decided that from now on, I will be updating twice a week on Monday and Friday, so I hope that's alright with all of you! Anyway, while I'm here, what do you guys think of Dana and Veronica so far? I'm trying very hard to make them both intriguing and engaging characters, so hopefully I'm doing that! If not, well, hopefully they become more engaging the more that you read! Anyway, please let me know what you thought of this chapter, and I'll see you on Friday for the next update!**


	7. Chapter 6: The Pieces Begin To Fall

**AN: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, any of the characters or the plot, that belongs to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. I solely own Dana and Veronica. All rights go to their original owners.**

A sensation of slight nervousness ran through the young Bennett girl as she slowly walked up to the large wooden front door of the Salvatore Boarding House, her heartbeat slightly picking up within her chest. To say that this building was creepy would be an understatement. The young woman couldn't quite put her finger on what specifically it was about the large building that creeped her out, whether it was the large foreboding dark colours, the eerie silence that had filled the air as she had walked up to the front of the house, or the fact that it literally appeared to be something out of a horror movie, but whatever it was, it made her feel incredibly uncomfortable to be here. Swallowing down the lump in her throat, she shakily raised her hand and softly knocked on the wooden front door, taking a step back as she waited for someone to come and answer the door. She stood there awkwardly for a few moments, her brown eyes trained on the front door as she waited for someone to appear, a small sigh soon falling from her lips. The creepiness of her surroundings and the fact that no one appeared to be coming to the door caused her to turn on her heel, presuming that all of the members of the Salvatore family must be out somewhere, before something caught her eye, directly in front of her.

It was that large black bird again.

The young woman stopped abruptly in her stride to look at the bird, as she could have sworn that the bird turned to study her soon afterwards. As the young woman tensed slightly, the large bird proceeded to spread its wings and fly upwards, cawing as it did so, causing the young woman to stumble backwards slightly as she had feared that the bird was going to fly directly at her. Once the bird was safely out of her direct line of sight, the girl breathed a soft sigh of relief to herself, before she heard an unfamiliar male voice speak to her.

"Can I help you?" The voice inquired, causing Veronica to turn on her heel and search for the origin of the voice, soon settling on a dark figure that was stood in the now open doorway to the Salvatore house. Veronica was pretty sure that she had never seen him before, and yet, there was something about him that was oddly familiar to her, almost as if she had encountered him for a brief second on the street or something. His dark coloured hair matched the pitch black t-shirt and jeans that he was wearing, with his bright blue eyes that reminded her slightly of the haunting ones of Dana being the only thing of colour about him, as even his skin was pale. Snapping out of her own little study of the male, Veronica decided that she should probably answer his question, nervously clinging to the bright blue strap of her bag.

"Um, yeah. I'm here for Dana? She asked for some help with this homework thing." She breathed softly, her natural shyness evident in the way that she spoke. The mysterious male raised an eyebrow in response, but a small smirk soon formed on his expression, as he proceeded to step aside slightly and gesture for the young woman to come inside. Ignoring her instincts that told her to turn on her heel and run as far away from this disturbing manor and this weird stranger as she possibly could, Veronica slowly and hesitantly walked through the front door and entered the large open parlour, finding herself being almost immediately blown away by just how beautiful the inside of the Boarding House was. There was a large fireplace in the centre of the parlour that was softly crackling away, with a collection of old wooden furniture all neatly varnished gathered around the room. It was evident that the Salvatore family had a lot of money, purely just by looking at the variety of furniture and portraits that were in the room. Their room was so much different to what she was used to. "Wow." She breathed softly, her brown eyes looking around the room for a few moments, causing a small chuckle to fall from the lips of the man that had let her in. Nervously, the young woman turned back to face the male, a slight nervous blush forming on her expression as she gave him a small smile. "Sorry. You… You have a very nice house, Mr…" She trailed off in an attempt to be polite, having no idea what his name was.

"Salvatore. I'm Damon Salvatore." He responded, a small smirk pulling at his lips. "You must be… Veronica Bennett? I've heard Dana talk about you before." The male replied, causing Veronica's head to tilt slightly, intrigued by that statement. She wondered what it was that Dana had said about her, hoping that she hadn't just gone home the previous night in order to insult her to all of her family members.

"It's nice to meet you, Mr Salvatore. But, I've never heard Dana mention you before. How are you related?" Veronica responded politely, wondering just how many Salvatores there actually were in this town. She was aware of Dana, Stefan, Zach and now there was Damon. Although, she supposed that there was more than enough space at the large Boarding House for all of them. Damon scoffed slightly at the response of the young woman before him, as he gave a small shrug of his shoulders.

"I'm Stefan's older brother. The much more handsome one, might I just point out. So, I'm Dana's cousin. I'm willing to bet that there's a lot that Dana hasn't told you about herself, isn't there? I mean, she's always been one for keeping secrets the entire time I've known her." Damon answered, causing a look of interest to form on the young woman's expression as a result of his words. Admittedly, she knew that she probably shouldn't believe a word that this ominous gentleman who claimed to be Dana's cousin spoke, but at the same time, this was the closest that she'd actually gotten to finding out anything solid about the woman that had intrigued her from the first moment that they'd met.

"What do you mean by that?" Veronica inquired, allowing her curiosity to take over, as the male's smirk grew slightly in response to her question.

"Let me just say that if you want a lesson in how to create a charade for yourself, Dana is the person to go to." The male replied with an almost innocent tone to his words. "Which is why I'm surprised that she actually went to the effort of attempting to make friends with you. Dana always used to strike me as the type of girl who would rather be alone for her whole entire life than let anyone know even the slightest thing about her." Veronica lightly bit down on her lower lip at the response of the male, her brown coloured eyes looking up at him as he got closer to her, the look of cunning once again flickering in his light blue eyes as his smirk grew slightly. "Makes you almost think that there's an ulterior motive at work here, doesn't it?" The male spoke lowly. As the Bennett girl went to make a comment in response, the familiar cynical tone of Dana reached her ears, causing her to look over in the direction of the entryway of the parlour to see the young Salvatore girl stood there with her hands in his pockets.

"Damon. How many times do I have to tell you that poaching people's friends isn't very nice?" Dana commented sarcastically, as she took a few steps forwards, lightly placing a hand on Veronica's upper arm, her grip tight on the younger girl as she pulled her away from the menacing man that she was supposedly related to, causing Damon to softly scoff in response to her words.

"Dana. No need to get snarky, I was just having a lovely conversation with your very charming friend." Damon commented in a slightly joking tone, causing Veronica to awkwardly look down at her dirty sneakers, a small exhale of breath falling from her lips. "It's good to see that you're finally being sociable for the first time in a century, Dana, if you have any other friends, please feel free to bring them over, I'd be more than happy to meet them. I'm sure that they'll be a lot of fun." Dana abruptly tensed at the words of the male, as she finally released her incredibly tight grip on the Bennett girl to take a few steps towards her cousin. Her expression shifted into one that was eerily similar to the expression that she'd had during her confrontation with Tyler previously that day, as her blue eyes looked up unafraid into those of Damon.

"I meant what I told you last night, Damon. You don't want to mess with me." Dana almost spat at the male, before she turned back to face Veronica, gesturing to the large open doorway of the parlour. "Come on, Veronica. Let's leave the alcoholic to his twenty million bottles of bourbon." She commented, proceeding to head towards the doorway, not even bothering to look back at Damon as she left the room. Veronica's dark coloured eyes made contact with the piercing blue ones of the male once more, shooting him a small and slightly awkward smile before she proceeded to slowly follow Dana out of the room, noticing the young girl in question lingering in the corridor to her left. The Bennett approached the young woman, giving her the trademark awkward Veronica Bennett smile, noticing that the young Salvatore sibling made no effort to return it as she proceeded to turn on her heel and headed off down the long corridor. With Damon's words echoing in the back of her mind, reminding her that she should probably take this opportunity to leave the house and never come back before it was too late, she slowly began to follow after the girl, with the pair eventually coming to a stop outside a singular wooden door that had clearly been recently painted a white colour. The paint was gradually beginning to chip off, revealing the original colour of the door, probably a result of Dana slamming it shut one too many times. Slowly, Dana pushed open the door, revealing a small but slightly cosy bedroom. As with seemingly all of the furniture in the house, practically everything within the room was built out of wood, and compared to the grand and impressive parlour, Dana's bedroom seemed slightly under furnished. In the opposite side of the room to the two young women stood in the doorway was a large bed, covered with a thin cream coloured sheet and a dark green blanket, with a wooden bedside table being beside the bed. A simple alarm clock was placed on the bedside table, and the only other items of furniture within the room were a medium sized closet, a large bookcase that contained a series of very old looking books, and a small desk directly in front of the window with a large book that was open on top of the desk.

"I like your room." Veronica commented politely as Dana proceeded to step into the room, a scoff falling from her lips as she slumped down onto her bed in a causal manner.

"It's a hovel. You can say that. You don't have to be so insufferably polite all the time you know. I'm used to people insulting my stuff, it's fine." Dana replied with a small half shrug, as Veronica proceeded to step inside the room, her dark coloured eyes looking over at the girl that was sat nonchalantly on her bed. "Although, I've slept in worst places." Dana added on, as she proceeded to get up on her feet, lightly running a hand through her hair. "I'm sorry about that. Salvatore family drama is at an all-time high lately. Poor Zach can't even focus on watering his plants, that's how dramatic things are around here." Veronica softly shook her head in response to the words of the young woman.

"It's fine. I have a… complicated family myself, so there's no reason to worry." Veronica replied politely, finding that her eyes were almost automatically being pulled towards the open book on her friend's desk, with her having no real idea why she was being so drawn to it. It was just a book after all. With all that should be running through her mind in that moment, why was it that she was being pulled towards some book that would probably have no consequence in the grand scheme of things? It was probably just a textbook. Almost as if she could read the young woman's mind, Dana approached her desk, and picked up the rather large tome in her arms, and closed it, proceeding to hold it out to Veronica with a small smile on her expression.

"I found it up in the attic a short while ago." Dana explained, with Veronica finding herself being rather bemused by the slightly calculating look that was held within the girl's bright blue eyes. "I've been reading through it, but you're welcome to have a look." Hesitantly, Veronica took hold of the book, feeling a strange sensation run through her veins the mere moment that her fingertips brushed against the leather cover of the book, causing her to take a sharp inhale of breath. Her brown eyes looked down at the book once she had it in her grasp, noticing a series of strange symbols written in white text on the front of the book, wondering what the hell they were supposed to say. Her grandmother would probably know, she was an expert in these sorts of things, due to her teaching Occult. Ignoring the mysterious symbols, she pulled open the cover of the book, flicking through a few blank pages in the front of the book until she eventually written even more peculiar symbols drawn in black ink and several words that appeared to be almost gibberish. They certainly weren't English or any language that Veronica recognised, that much was certain.

"What is this? Is it Latin?" She inquired, looking up at Dana, who gave a small shrug of her shoulders in response to her question.

"I'd suppose so. I mean, I don't speak Latin. I'm smart, but I'm not that smart." She answered, as Veronica looked back down at the book, continuing to flick through the book, finding that practically every page contained different strange symbols and possibly Latin words, with the incredibly curious young woman studying them and attempting to make some form of sense out of them, which was almost impossible. The young Bennett was about to get to the end of the book, before she noticed that Dana had tensed once more, her blue eyes trained on the doorway. Veronica raised an eyebrow at the actions of the girl, as she proceeded to approach her, carrying the now closed book under her arm.

"What is it?" She asked curiously, as Dana ignored her question and proceeded to head out of the room, soon disappearing. Sighing to herself, as she knew that following after her would probably only lead to trouble, Veronica proceeded to leave the room, following after Dana as the brunette lead her back in the direction of the parlour. Once she had gotten a few inches away from the parlour, the sound of a rather heated discussion between Damon, Dana and Stefan reached her ears, with her soon realising what they had been talking about. Elena. The young girl felt slight worry run through her veins at the realisation that they were talking about her friend, as she stepped forwards so that she would be visible to the three Salvatores, with them soon turning to look at her. Damon's seemingly regular smirk soon returned to his expression as he saw the young Bennett stood there, whilst Stefan seemed slightly confused and Dana almost immediately shot a glare in Damon's direction.

"Veronica." Stefan spoke first, as he took a few steps towards the young woman, who looked up at him soon afterwards. "It is Veronica, isn't it?" Once the young woman had nodded in response, Stefan gave her a small smile, looking back at Dana for a few moments, before Veronica, feeling incredibly uncomfortable with the way that Damon was looking at her and getting the feeling that another Salvatore family argument was about to break out, decided that she should probably speak up.

"And you're Stefan. It's nice to finally meet you, but I should probably get going." She suggested, noticing the small nod that Dana gave to her in response. "It was nice to meet you too, Damon. I'll, um… I'll see you around, Dana." Veronica spoke, holding out the book that the girl had given to her towards her, as Dana gave a small shake of her head in response.

"You seem to be rather attached to it." Dana replied. "I'll let you borrow it, let me know if you figure out what the hell it means. Although, I will warn you that if I even find one bit of damage on it, I won't be impressed." Veronica nodded in understanding, proceeding to quickly place the large book into her bag, before Stefan began to quickly shepherd her towards the front door. The looks that the Salvatore male kept giving towards his brother confused the Bennett girl slightly, but she chose not to question it, the tension that lingered in the room making her want to get out of there as quickly as was possible. The mere moment that she was back out in the open air with the front door to the Boarding House closed, the young girl allowed a breath of relief to once again fall from her lips as she began to head away from the house, finding herself just even more confused about the riddle that was the Salvatore family. As she left the Salvatore estate, she allowed herself to banish Dana and her ominous cousin to the back of her mind, attempting to focus on the latest riddle that had arrived in her life.

The book.

 **AN: And I'm going to end it there! Thank you for reading; I hope you enjoyed! I know that I do this every chapter, but I really want to thank all of you again for reading, favouriting and following! I'm so happy that you all seem to like this story, even though not a lot has happened so far! I really hope that you all like my OC's, that you're growing used to them, and that you're enjoying the story although much hasn't happened yet! Anyway, thank you again for reading and if you wouldn't mind leaving me a review to let me know what you thought of the chapter or my OC's, or just anything to do with the story, that'd be much appreciated, but you don't have to! I will see you all on Monday for the next update!**


	8. Chapter 7: Those Left Behind

**AN: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, any of the characters or the plot, that belongs to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. I solely own Dana and Veronica. All rights go to their original owners.**

Veronica shivered slightly as she drew her jacket closer around herself, the cold night air beginning to affect her. The combined dim light of the candle beside her that Caroline had lit for her and the street light a few feet away from her were providing her with just enough illumination to continue studying the book that she had been given earlier on, but she knew that in a short while, she would have to give up on her studying for the day and head into the Grill to meet up with her friends and enjoy the festivities of the comet festival. Sighing to herself, she hesitantly closed the book of complicated symbols and words, her brown eyes looking up into the sky to catch sight of the small light blue comet that was slowly but surely moving across the sky. It was incredibly beautiful, something that the young woman knew she would never see anything like it again. Her studying of the comet was disrupted when she was approached by Matt Donovan, her eyes going over to look at the blonde boy that was wearing a clear look of distress on his expression as her head tilted slightly. "Matt? Are you alright?" She inquired with concern for her friend.

"Have you seen Vick? She's gone missing again." Matt responded, causing Veronica to softly sigh, not surprised in the slightest that she had managed to disappear. Honestly, she would be more surprised if she had managed to stay put.

"Sorry, no, I haven't." Veronica replied, feeling incredibly sorry for Matt who always had to run around after his sister who seemed intent on driving him insane with worry. Matt sighed to himself, as his bright blue eyes looked around himself once more. "But if you'd like, I can help you look for her?" Veronica offered, as Matt nodded in response.

"That'd be great, Ronnie, thanks." Matt replied with a look of genuine gratitude on his expression, causing Veronica to softly nod, as she placed her book back into her bag, soon getting up on her feet. Carrying the candle in her hands, Veronica and Matt began to slowly walk around the town square, looking for any sign of Matt's wild older sister, with Matt occasionally shouting out the young girl's name. Once they had made it around the park once, Matt began to softly make conversation with the young girl. "So, what do you think about those Salvatores then?" Matt asked as he looked down at her, causing Veronica to give a small shrug of her shoulders.

"They're a bit… weird." Veronica admitted, as her brown eyes looked around once more for any sign of the young missing girl. "I mean, I haven't really talked to Zach, so I can't comment on him, but I know the rest of them. Stefan seems nice though." Matt allowed a small sigh to fall from his lips at the mention of Stefan, causing a look of slight sympathy to form in the Bennett girl's brown eyes. Given how recently Elena and Matt had broken up, she supposed that she couldn't blame him for being slightly bitter about how Elena appeared to be spending quite a lot of time with Stefan.

"What about that Dana chick? I mean, did you see the way that she nearly killed Tyler earlier?" Matt asked with a slight fear in his voice. "I mean, I tried talking to her when she first arrived in town, and she just… silently glared up at me. I think she's the weirdest of them all." Veronica merely shrugged her shoulders once more in reply to the man's questions, as she brushed some of her dark brown hair away from her face.

"She does have a tendency to be a bit… intimidating. I won't lie." Veronica replied politely, not wanting to outwardly insult the girl that seemed to be slowly but surely becoming one of her friends. "But, you know, she seems to like me. I'm not quite sure why." The young woman breathed softly, her eyes soon looking over at Matt once more. "But, seeing as Jeremy seems to have abandoned me over the past few months, I guess I can't really complain. I'd rather be friends with someone who's a bit unusual than have absolutely no friends at all." Veronica added on, not really wanting to admit to Matt how lonely she had felt over the past few months. She understood that Jeremy needed time to grieve, to adjust to a life without his parents, and she was more than happy to give him that time and give him all the support that he needed, but at the same time, when Jeremy had isolated himself from society, Veronica had found herself feeling more alone than she ever had done in her whole entire life. Sure, she had Caroline, Bonnie and Elena, but they had never really gotten her or understood her in the way that Jeremy did. She missed her best friend, and seeing him ruin his life by going around with Vicki Donovan and her drug crew was breaking her inside, but she knew that she couldn't tell him that. Hopefully, by giving him time, Jeremy would eventually realise the mistakes that he had made, and things might possibly begin to return to normal. That was her hope anyway.

"Did you know that Jeremy slept with my sister?" Matt asked abruptly as he came to a stop, a look of pure confusion and shock soon forming on her expression. She wasn't too sure where the question had come from, but she was still surprised regardless.

"What? No." Veronica responded truthfully, as she'd had no idea that Jeremy and Vicki were even on that sort of plain. "I mean, I knew they were close, I knew that she got him into drugs, but I had no idea that they were… _that_ close." The young Bennett girl responded, not entirely sure what Matt was feeling in that moment, and his expression didn't reveal anything in the slightest. She supposed that it must be rather weird to learn that someone who you had known since they were born slept with your sister. Presumably she would feel the same way if she learned that one of her really old friends had slept with Bonnie, with her not being quite sure how to react. The young woman sighed, as her brown eyes looked up at Matt.

"Supposedly, it happened multiple times. And apparently Tyler's slept with her too. She's just… determined to drive me insane." Matt commented with a small chuckle falling from his lips as he proceeded to cross his arms over his chest, as Veronica softly nodded in response.

"I don't quite think that she's trying to drive you insane, Matt. It's just… you care about her so much, which is natural given that you're basically all that the other one has. You care about her almost too much, and when you see her going out of her way to cause trouble, it hurts you too. I'm not too sure that Vicki knows that her actions hurt you too." Veronica responded, hoping that there was something in her words that would help the young boy with his clear conflict over how he should be feeling about the fact that his sister and his ex-girlfriend's little brother slept together. Matt exhaled softly at her response, as he gave a small nod in response.

"Yeah, I suppose so. Thanks, Ron." The boy responded, lightly placing one of his arms around the girl's shoulder, not pulling her too close due to the candle that she held tightly in her right hand. Veronica smiled softly at the action of the male, lightly patting him on the shoulder when he pulled away from her, as she proceeded to look around herself carefully once more, searching for any sign of Vicki.

"You're very welcome. Do you want to maybe head to the Grill? Maybe someone's found her?" Veronica suggested, hoping that her suggestion would be correct, as she could guess that having to spend much longer wandering around in the cold for any sign of his sister would probably drive Matt insane with worry. Once Matt had given a small and clearly hesitant nod in response, the young girl proceeded to blow out the small stub of wax that could barely even be called a candle anymore that she held in her grasp, before the pair began to head in the direction of the small bar and restaurant that was just opposite the square. The moment that they passed through the door, a glimmer of slight happiness and relief flickered in Matt's eyes, and as Veronica followed his gaze, she saw Vicki sat in one of the booths, with a slightly distant look in her eyes.

"Vick?" Matt called to her as he approached her, Veronica hesitantly following afterwards, as the young girl looked up and winced slightly at the volume of Matt's voice. "Vick, where the hell have you been? You worried me." Matt added on. As Veronica got closer to the young girl in the booth, she noticed that the wound in her neck, which had been presumably sealed up by the doctors at the hospital the night before, was now open, blood slowly dripping down her neck.

"You've ripped your stitches open." Veronica commented softly, as she proceeded to sit on the edge of the table, her brown eyes studying the wound for a few moments, as Vicki shot a small and slight glare up at the young Bennett girl. Rolling her eyes slightly, Veronica's natural medical instincts kicked in, as she looked up at Matt. "Don't suppose you could go and ask if the Grill have a first aid kit or something, do you?" She asked softly, as Matt nodded in response, heading over to the large bar soon afterwards.

"Why are you helping me? I know you hate me, Bennett." Vicki commented once the pair were left alone, causing Veronica to look back at her, giving a small shrug of her shoulders in response to her question.

"I know how much you mean to Jeremy." Veronica replied softly and truthfully. "I know that you and he are never really on the best of terms, and I don't like the way that you treat him and manipulate him to get your own supply of drugs or whatever, but you matter to him. I've never seen him look at a girl the way that he looks at you. So, no, Vicki, I don't like you. But, because I care about him and Matt, I am going to keep helping you out when you get into trouble. So, if you ever need medical help, come to me. I want to be a doctor, it'd be good training. Okay?" The young Bennett girl replied, speaking her mind, as the clearly slightly detached girl gave a careless shrug of her shoulders in response.

"Whatever. You don't know anything about me and Jeremy, Veronica." Vicki responded, just in time for Matt to return to the group, carrying a large green box of first aid supplies in his hands. He placed it down on the table beside Veronica, as the young girl pushed herself off the table, and opened up the box. As Matt watched on, lightly biting down on his lower lip, the Bennett girl began to clean up and redress the wound that the girl had in her neck as best as she could with the supplies that she had.

"So, where were you?" Matt inquired as the girl worked on his sister's wound, causing Vicki to softly sigh to herself.

"That guy… Stefan? He found me wandering around and sent me back." Vicki answered, with her response having an almost automatic quality to it. It was almost slightly eerie how quickly she had given her answer, but the young woman chose to dismiss all of her thoughts as she finished softly placing a gauze bandage over the girl's wound.

"That should keep it closed for a little while, but if it keeps bleeding or re-opening, then I'd suggest maybe going back to the hospital." Veronica commented, earning her an eye roll from Vicki, as her attention turned back to Matt. "I think I'll leave you two to it. Have a nice night." She bid the two farewell, picking up her bag from the small bench that she had left it on, as Matt gave a small and simple nod in response to her words.

"Of course. Thanks Ronnie." Matt gave her a small smile, his attention almost automatically going to his sister as Veronica began to walk off from the pair, soon catching sight of Caroline and Bonnie sat at a table a short distance away from her. She approached her two friends with a small smile on her face, gently pulling out a chair and sitting next to Caroline.

"Well, hello there, Doctor Bennett. Nice of you to join us after you're finished saving lives." Caroline playfully teased her, causing the young woman to softly blush in a timid manner, as she placed her bag down on the floor. Her eyes met those of her sister who was sat across the table from her, giving her a small and slight smile in greeting, before her eyes followed Caroline's over to Vicki and Matt, who had now been joined by Stefan. Caroline's blue eyes observed the scene for a few moments, before she playfully rolled her eyes and turned her attention to Bonnie for a brief moment. "Ugh, there's just so much drama today. It's ridiculous. Have you guys ever notice how the druggies are the biggest attention whores?" Caroline inquired, as Veronica softly sighed to herself, the words reminding her of Jeremy, as Bonnie nodded softly in response.

"Yeah." Bonnie responded, but before either Caroline or Veronica had a chance to add on to her statement, the table of three were approached by Stefan. His hands in his pockets, and a small smile on his lips, the younger Salvatore sibling reached the table and came to a stop in front of the group of girls.

"Excuse me. Hi." Stefan began politely, earning him almost immediate attention from Caroline, with Veronica and Bonnie also looking up at the male soon afterwards, with Veronica being intrigued about what he had to say.

"Hi, Stefan." She greeted him softly and politely, giving the young man a small smile to encourage him to talk and satisfy her curiosity about what it was that he wanted.

"Hey, Veronica." Stefan responded to her greeting in his typical soft manner, before his eyes focussed more on Caroline and Bonnie as he spoke again. "Um, have you guys seen Elena?" He inquired, resulting in a small and slight smirk pulling at Bonnie's lips.

"I think she went home." Bonnie answered the male's question helpfully, before she proceeded to briefly rummage through her bag for a few moments, pulling out some paper and a pen. "I'm gonna give you Elena's cell number and her email. She is big on texting, and you can tell her... _"I said so"_." Bonnie explained what she was doing as she proceeded to scribble down the information, as a gentle smile pulled at the lips of the Salvatore boy soon afterwards.

"Thank you." Stefan responded politely, just as Bonnie proceeded to hold out the piece of paper to him. As the male gently took hold of the piece of paper, Bonnie abruptly tensed, a look of slight terror in her eyes as she looked up at the boy for a few moments. Almost immediately, the young woman yanked her hand back, leaving Stefan holding the piece of paper in his grasp, and looking incredibly confused. Veronica couldn't help but be oddly reminded of the moment that she had met Dana, of the images that had ran through her head the mere moment that her skin had made contact with the cold skin of the Salvatore girl. Her and Bonnie were twins, so the fact that they'd both had incredibly similar reactions to touching a member of the Salvatore family only further convinced the younger Bennett sibling that there was something slightly off about their family.

"You okay?" Stefan spoke, clearly incredibly bemused by the reaction of the young Bennett girl, as Bonnie looked up at him, the terror and slight concern still very much held in her dark green eyes.

"What happened to you?" Bonnie asked almost immediately, resulting in Stefan's expression only becoming more bemused, as the girl softly shook her head, slightly breaking out of her trance of terror as she did so. "That's so rude. I'm sorry. Excuse me." Bonnie spoke as she proceeded to get onto her feet, her legs shaking underneath her as her eyes went to her sister. "Come on, Veronica." She prompted her sibling, causing Veronica to nod in response, giving small looks at Stefan and Caroline, before she and her sister began to head out of the Grill. As they got outside, Veronica placing her hands into the pockets of her coat, her brown eyes looked at her sister in concern.

"Are you okay, Bon?" She asked her sister, lightly placing a hand on Bonnie's arm, resulting in the young girl jumping slightly, as her eyes looked at her sister.

"I-I'm fine." Bonnie insisted, as she continued to walk. "I must have just had too much coffee. Now come on, let's head home, it's late." As Veronica stood there for a few moments, she sighed to herself, taking in all the information that she had learned in the past few moments. Eventually, her rather confused brain came to a relatively shaky conclusion, before she began to sprint after her sister.

There was almost definitely something odd about the members of the Salvatore family.

She just had to figure out what it was.

And she knew just the person to help her do that.

 **AN: And I'm going to end it there! Thank you so much for reading; I hope you enjoyed! As always, I would like to express my gratitude to every single one of you who has favourited, followed or even just read this story, it really does mean the world to me that you would be willing to take some time out of your day to read something I wrote! Just to let you all know, as I've written this story in advance, Alaric arrives in this story in chapter 18, so we will only have 11 more chapters until our grand love story begins! I hope you're all looking forward to that! I'm sorry that it's taken so long, as I've said previously, I just wanted to give you all a chance to properly get used to my OCs! Anyway, please leave me a review to let me know what you thought of this chapter, and I will see you all on Friday for the next update!**


	9. Chapter 8: Just Another Day

**AN: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, any of the characters or the plot, that belongs to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. I solely own Dana and Veronica. All rights go to their original owners.**

Lightly, the young Bennett witch allowed a gentle sigh to fall from her lips as she proceeded to walk by her sister's side as they approached the large grey high school with Elena by their side. The young Gilbert girl had a smile on her face for the first time in a long time, as she recounted the story of how she and Stefan had kissed the night before, and were now considering making a serious go of their relationship. Normally, Veronica would have been happy for her, glad that her friend was finally attempting to start her life again and had found a guy that made her happy even when everything else in her life was awful, but after the events of last night she wasn't too sure. After seeing her sister's reaction to touching Stefan and how similar it had been to the way that she had reacted to shaking Dana's hand, there had to be something weird going on. It wasn't normal for them both to have reacted in that way to the two Salvatore cousins. "I'm not saying don't date the guy. I'm just saying take it slow." Bonnie commented, bringing Veronica out of her thoughts as they got closer to the building, causing a look of slight confusion to form on Elena's expression, her smile faltering slightly.

"You were the one who said to go for it." Elena spoke in response, clearly feeling slightly bemused by Bonnie's abrupt shift in attitude towards Stefan, as the group of three came to a stop. Elena's large brown eyes looked up at Bonnie, her eyes briefly flicking to Veronica for a few moments, with the younger of the two Bennett siblings choosing to stay silent. Admittedly, Stefan didn't seem to be anywhere near as weird nor as volatile as Dana, nor had he really exhibited any weird behaviour, but until she was one hundred percent certain that there was nothing wrong with any of the Salvatores and this was just a product of her overactive imagination, she wasn't too sure about how she felt about Stefan and Elena dating. She just wanted Elena to be safe, as dumb as that sounded.

"Now I'm saying take it slow." Bonnie replied simply, pulling Elena's attention back to her. Elena's arms soon crossed over her chest, her head tilting slightly as she studied her close friend's expression, obviously wanting to get to the bottom of everything that was going on.

"Why the about-face?" Elena questioned. "Tell me what's wrong, or I'll make Veronica tell me." Veronica looked at the girl, a small sigh falling from her lips. She knew how crazy it would sound if she claimed that the reason her sister didn't want Elena to be with Stefan was because he acted weird and she got a bad feeling when she had touched him, something that Veronica herself had also experienced.

"There's nothing wrong, so there's no need to involve Ronnie in our little non-drama. And this is not an about-face. You're single for the first time in your entire high school career. It's the perfect time to play the field." Bonnie responded, lying far more convincingly than Veronica herself was normally able to do. Veronica gave a small nod, attempting to pretend that she agreed with Bonnie's conclusion about Elena, when in reality, she was only attempting to try and keep her friend safe until she knew for definite what was going on. Elena scoffed gently at her friend's response.

"Oh, because I'm so that girl." Elena jokingly commented, soon noticing the slightly serious expression that was held on the faces of the two Bennett twins, causing her expression to fall slightly once more. "Seriously, what are you two not saying? What have I missed?" Veronica lightly bit down on her lower lip, scuffing her shoes awkwardly on the floor beneath her before her dark brown eyes went to Bonnie.

"It's not my place to say." Veronica responded, causing Elena's attention to once again return to Bonnie, as the slightly elder Bennett sibling allowed an exhale of breath to fall from her lips.

"It's stupid." Bonnie insisted, causing Elena to raise an eyebrow in curiosity, clearly feeling very lost by everything that was happening, as the Gilbert girl soon spoke again.

"Bonnie..." She trailed off, clearly attempting to prompt Bonnie to tell her the truth about what had really happened between her and Stefan.

"What?" Bonnie asked, resulting in Veronica softly sighing to herself, as she shot a small look at her sister, hoping to encourage her to just tell Elena the truth and allow her to mock them. It was evident that Elena wasn't planning on letting the subject drop, so they may as well just get it over with.

"Spit it out. One of you." Elena prompted, once again looking between the two siblings, perhaps presuming that Veronica would be the one to cave in first as she had never been able to lie to any of her friends about anything for long. Bonnie sighed harshly, evidently feeling rather frustrated by Elena's refusal to let the subject drop, as she proceeded to look at the girl.

"I accidentally touched Stefan. And I got a really bad feeling." Bonnie began, as her eyes briefly went to Veronica, presumably checking if it was okay for Bonnie to add on the bit about her feelings on Dana. When her younger sibling had given a small nod in response, Bonnie then added on, "And… When Veronica and Dana met, she claims that she experienced a similar thing, and you can't deny that there's something weird about that girl." Veronica once again silently nodded, as she wrapped her arms around herself, noticing the slight look of bemusement that soon formed on Elena's expression once more.

"Is that it?" Elena asked, causing Bonnie to go to turn away and head off, with her almost immediately grasping hold of her friend's arm. "Guys… Yes, Dana is incredibly weird, but that doesn't mean that Stefan is weird."

"It was bad bad!" Bonnie protested, as Veronica lightly bit down on her lower lip nervously. She wasn't shocked in the slightest that Elena hadn't believed them. The only thing she'd even been surprised by was that Bonnie had actually accepted and appeared to believe her story about the feeling that had run through her when she'd met Dana when she'd told her about it the night before, as she had expected her sibling to claim that she was just imagining things, not accept it.

"Guys, is this the whole witch mojo thing again? Because I really don't think that you need any type of mojo to tell that Dana's weird." Elena responded simply, undoubtedly not taking any of the Bennett siblings comments or conclusions about Stefan seriously. Bonnie exhaled in a slightly frustrated tone, before she softly conceded,

"You know what? I'm just concerned. This is me expressing concern about my best friend's new boyfriend. And… perhaps Veronica is just sleep deprived and therefore stating the obvious." Veronica shot her sister a small look of slight disbelief, but eventually also conceded, giving a small shrug of her shoulders soon afterwards.

"Perhaps I am just combining far too much coffee and an overprotective nature." She admitted softly, causing Elena to softly smile, and lightly place her hand on both of the Bennett girl's arms, one at a time with Bonnie being first.

"I love you guys for looking out for me, I do. But I feel good. It's been a hard year, and I'm starting to kind of feel like things are getting back to normal again. And you know what? Stefan is a big part of that." Elena commented, and upon seeing the look of happiness that soon returned to her expression, Veronica found herself unable to argue the conclusion nor make any further comments about Stefan. It was quite likely that this was all just in her head, she'd always been quite an imaginative person at times. Dana just probably had anger issues and a weird family, nothing more. However, Veronica was soon brought out of her own musing about the Salvatore girl, when Stefan approached the group of three, causing Elena's smile to grow slightly as she looked up at him.

"Good morning, Elena. Good morning, Bonnie." Stefan greeted the two girls before him, before turning his head slightly to look at the younger Bennett girl. "Hello, Veronica." He spoke politely, causing Veronica to softly give him a small smile in response.

"Good morning, Stefan." The girl responded politely, as Stefan's attention turned to Elena, with Veronica suddenly noticing that her sister appeared to have tensed slightly.

"Hey, um, I gotta find Caroline. She's not answering her phone. So, I'll see you guys later." Bonnie began to excuse herself, as her dark green eyes went to Veronica. "Come on, Veronica, you can help me look." Bonnie spoke, as she grasped hold of her sibling's arm, beginning to pull the girl away from the group. Once they had gotten a small distance away, Veronica lightly pulled her arm away, her eyes looking over at her sister as she spoke once more. "There is something weird about him. Take my word for it." Bonnie promised, before she began to quickly walk off on the search for Caroline. The younger Bennett sibling soon trailed after her, feeling incredibly confused about what had just happened.

* * *

Veronica stretched out her arms as she got onto her feet, her brown eyes looking down at her sister as she began to tie up her long dark brown hair in a loose ponytail. The day had gone relatively quickly, and now she was at cheerleading practice, something that was the bane of her existence. She'd never really been a fan of cheerleading, and due to how insecure about her appearance she was and how awkward she could be at times, she wasn't very good at it. She'd only joined the squad because Caroline had forced her to do so back in her freshman year, and she hadn't wanted to disappoint her friend. She delicately brushed the remaining dirt off of her shorts, attempting to ignore how uncomfortable she felt as Bonnie's voice brought her out of her thoughts. "Oh, my God! You're here!" Bonnie exclaimed as she got onto her feet, causing Veronica to turn around to see who she was looking at, a small smile pulling at her lips as she saw that it was Elena, dressed in the typical work out gear that the cheerleaders had to wear.

"Yep. I can't be sad girl forever. The only way to get things back to the way that they were is to do things that were." Elena replied, as she began to do the stretching exercises that the Bennett girls had been doing for the past few moments, Bonnie sitting down on the grass beside her as they did so. "Oh, and you're coming to dinner tonight, Bonnie."

"I am?" Bonnie inquired curiously, her eyes looking up at her sister, who was still on her feet, for a few moments. "How come Ronnie's not invited? Did she get on your bad side?" Bonnie jokingly questioned, causing Veronica to softly laugh in response.

"Nope, it's just you, me and Stefan tonight." Elena replied, as her brown eyes looked up at Veronica who was still busy stretching, causing Bonnie to tense. "Sorry, Ron, I didn't really feel that you needed to come, I…" Veronica shook her head softly, causing the girl to trail off as Veronica wrapped her arms around herself.

"It's fine, Elena, really. I'm busy anyway, so I couldn't have come. I have some work to do." Veronica replied truthfully, as she really did have plans for that evening. Once she was done here, she was going to head to her grandmother's house, and hope that the normally incredibly wise elder woman had some answers to her questions regarding Dana and her suspicions. Elena nodded softly in response, as her eyes looked to Bonnie, noticing that her friend didn't appear to like the idea of going to dinner with Stefan and Elena alone.

"You have to give him a chance." Elena spoke, causing Bonnie to softly sigh, her dark green eyes looking over at the girl.

"Tonight's no good." Bonnie insisted, causing Elena to raise an eyebrow doubtfully. "Have you seen Caroline? I texted her like a hundred times." Bonnie added on, clearly attempting to change the subject at hand, although at the mention of their blonde friend, Veronica also found herself realising that she hadn't seen the girl at all today. They had been unable to find her earlier that morning, and now she was late to cheerleading practise, an activity that Caroline absolutely loved. The younger Bennett sibling's eyes looked around, once again not spotting any sign of her enthusiastic blonde friend, her heart sinking in her chest as she realised that she hadn't seen Dana either today. Had something bad happened to Caroline? Biting down on her lower lip nervously, Veronica proceeded to look back at the two girls on the ground before her when Elena spoke again,

"Don't change the subject, Bonnie Bennett! You're going to be there." Elena demanded, bringing the subject back to the meal with Stefan. "I'll make Veronica physically drag you there if I have to." Bonnie rolled her eyes playfully at her friend's comment, as her eyes looked down at her shoes for a short while, the look of hesitation about the idea still very evident on her face.

"Fine. I'll go." Bonnie eventually conceded as her eyes looked back up at her friend. "Just because I want to save Veronica the embarrassment of failing to be able to drag me anywhere. I know how much of a weakling she is." The girl jokingly commented, causing Veronica to playfully pout.

"Hey!" She commented, jokingly acting if she were offended by her sister's joking comment, causing both of the girls on the grass to start laughing, a smile forming on Veronica's face at the sound of their laughter. It had been a while since they'd all been able to laugh. Her brown eyes looked around, noticing the slight look of impatience that was beginning to form on the faces of the other girls within the cheerleading squad, as Veronica softly commented, "Well, it seems as though some people don't know how patience works." As her laughter died out, Bonnie followed her sister's eyes, the brief glimmer of concern for Caroline once again returning to her expression.

"Hmm. Seriously though, where is Caroline?" Bonnie questioned, voicing the question that was running through all three of the girl's minds, as Elena lightly bit down on her lower lip in response to her question.

"I don't know. It's not like her." Elena voiced her own concern for the girl, as Bonnie proceeded to reach over and grab hold of her school bag, rummaging through it for a few moments, clearly looking for something.

"I'll try her again." Bonnie commented, causing Veronica to realise that she was looking for her phone, before the sight of a light blue roofless car approaching them reached Veronica's eyes. The young girl tilted her head slightly, realising that as the car got closer, she recognised the occupants. In the driver's seat was Damon Salvatore, a pair of sunglasses on his face and an look of smugness like no other on his expression, whilst in the passenger seat was Caroline, a bright smile on her face.

"Um, guys?" Veronica began, causing Bonnie and Elena to look up at her, as the young woman gestured to the car. The attention of the two girls turned to the car just as it pulled up beside them, with Caroline soon leaning across to kiss Damon passionately, causing Veronica's eyes to widen slightly. She couldn't believe that this was happening.

"Oh, my God. That must be the mystery guy from the Grill." Bonnie commented, snapping Veronica out of her concerned thoughts about how Damon and Caroline had ended up becoming a thing, as her brown eyes looked down at her friends as they began to get onto their feet to presumably greet Caroline.

"That's not a mystery guy. That's Damon Salvatore." Elena stated as she proceeded to get onto her feet, brushing the grass off of her shorts, shooting a small and slight look of disbelief and confusion in Damon's direction as Caroline got out of the car.

"Salvatore, as in Stefan and Dana?!" Bonnie asked in doubt, and as Veronica went to reply that she was indeed correct and that Damon had the possibility to be even worse and weirder than either Stefan or Damon, Caroline cut them off as she approached the group of three and Damon drove off in his small car.

"I got the other brother. Hope you don't mind." Caroline boasted confidently, as Veronica became aware of the multi-coloured scarf that she was wearing around her neck, causing her head to tilt slightly. It was a rather odd fashion accessory to wear to a cheerleading work out, but the young woman decided to say nothing of it, instead going to stand in her place in the squad, which was quite close to the back due to how awful she was at the routines. As Caroline announced to the girls what routine they would be practising today, Veronica allowed herself to attempt to focus on the task at hand, hoping that it would be long before she got some answers and was able to lay her imaginative mind to rest.

 **AN: And I'm going to end it there! Thank you so much for reading; I hope you enjoyed! Once again, a huge thank you to everyone that has read or in anyway interacted with this story, I'm very grateful that you would be willing to spend your time reading my story! I hope that you are all enjoying this story still! You will be glad to hear that we now only have 10 chapters until Alaric arrives and things start to get more dramatic in the story, so I hope you're looking forward to that! If you would like to leave me a review letting me know what you thought of this chapter, or just anything about the story in general, go right ahead, I'd love to see what you guys think! Anyway, thank you very much again for reading, and I will see you again on Monday for the next update!**


	10. Chapter 9: Memories Of Times Gone By

**AN: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, any of the characters or the plot, that belongs to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. I solely own Dana and Veronica. All rights go to their original owners.**

Veronica pulled her hands out of her pockets as she came to a stop on her grandmother's front porch, her heart nervously fluttering within her chest as she considered if this was actually a good idea. There was a chance that she was just imagining everything, and that there was nothing wrong with Dana or the book that she had been given by the girl. Her grandmother would help to clear that up, but she didn't to risk wasting the elder woman's time if this did just turn out to be nothing. Swallowing down her nerves, the young girl proceeded to press down on the doorbell softly, soon allowing her hand to casually fall down to her side as she waited for an answer. It didn't take too long for the elderly woman to come to the front door, a kind smile soon forming on her expression as soon as she saw that it was her granddaughter stood at the door. "Veronica." She greeted her softly, giving her a small hug, her expression fading slightly once she saw the small look of concern that was held on the young Bennett's expression once she had pulled away. "Whatever's wrong, child? You look as though you have just seen a ghost." Veronica softly sighed at her grandmother's response, before she proceeded to reply,

"Can… Can I come in? There's something I need to talk to you about, it's going to actually drive me insane if I don't get answers soon." Her grandmother nodded in response, moving out of the way so that Veronica could come in, with the young girl soon doing so. Lightly placing a hand on her arm, her grandmother soon proceeded to close the door behind Veronica, and almost instantly pointing the young girl through to the living room. Veronica obliged, heading into the large open living room and sitting down on the couch, with her grandmother soon sitting beside her. "I don't know if Bonnie's mentioned anything to you, but there's a few new students at my school. They started a few days ago, they're called Dana and Stefan." Veronica began, attempting to figure out the best way to put into words everything that was racing through her mind in that moment. "The girl, Dana, we've been… sort of hanging out lately, and in the time that I've known her, she's done some pretty weird things. And I just want to know if this is all just in my head, or if there really is something odd about her. I was hoping that you could help me." Her grandmother's expression soon turned to one of intrigue as she looked at the girl, her head tilting slightly.

"I'll do my best to help you, Veronica." Her grandmother reassured her with a small kind smile, lightly placing a hand on her shoulder once more, before she proceeded to rise to her feet. "I'll go and put some tea on, and then we'll talk about your new friend. I have that flavour in that you always used to love when you were little." She commented, causing a small grateful smile to form on Veronica's expression in response.

"Thank you, Grams." Veronica thanked the elderly lady as she began to head out of the room, with her idly soon pulling the large heavy book out of her satchel bag and placing it down on the table. Perhaps her grandmother might know something about it? She could always hope, she supposed. Her Grams taught Occult at the local college after all. If anyone was going to know something about this book, then it was her. Her fingers idly traced the symbols on the front of the book being vaguely aware of the sounds of her grandmother making tea in the room next door, before she felt her phone vibrate in her back pocket. The young woman brought her hands away from the book, pulling out her phone to read the message that she had been sent by her sister, informing her that things at the dinner were getting incredibly awkward. Veronica went to reply to her sister's text, before she became aware of someone stood in the doorway, causing her to look up from her phone screen, seeing her grandmother stood in the doorway with her eyes trained on the large book that Veronica had placed on the table before her. The young Bennett girl almost immediately placed her phone away, her attention returning to her grandmother as she softly spoke, "Grams?"

"Where did you get that?" Her grandmother asked, as she placed down the tray of tea on the table, soon approaching the girl that was sat on the couch and the large book that was directly in front of her. Her grandmother's response confused her slightly, with Veronica almost being slightly afraid of it. Was there actually something that was unusual about the book?

"Dana gave it to me." She responded softly to her question, her dark coloured eyes studying her grandmother's expression for a few moments, still incredibly confused by her reaction. "She found it, I think she said, and when I went over to her place a few days ago, she was reading it. But the mere moment that I saw it, I found myself almost… drawn to it, and she said that I could borrow it until I figured out what it was about." Veronica answered truthfully, her head tilting slightly. "Do… Do you know what it is?" The young woman inquired as her grandmother proceeded to pick up the book, and lightly run her fingers across the cover and the marks on it for a few moments.

"Of course I know what it is. As should you, if you and your sister actually pay any attention to a word that I've said to you." Her grandmother responded, causing Veronica to raise an eyebrow, before she figured out what it was that her grandmother was alluding to.

"Is it a book on witchcraft?" The young Bennett girl asked, as then the rather occult like symbols that were contained on the cover of the book and the pages within would make sense.

"I suppose that you could call it that." Her grandmother replied, as she opened up the book and looked at the symbols and the strange words for a few moments. "This is a spell book, Veronica." Veronica looked at the woman in slight confusion, before her eyes settled on the book as her grandmother closed it. "Do you not recognise the name on the front cover?"

"That's a name?" The young girl questioned in slight disbelief, studying it for a few moments as she attempted to make out the possible name that her grandmother supposedly could see, with her being able to make out a letter B if she looked hard enough at the start of the name.

"It says Bennett, child. This is one of your family's spell books." Her grandmother replied, causing Veronica's eyes to widen slightly, as she had not been expecting that revelation. Her brown eyes looked at her grandmother, as she curiously asked,

"Whose book is it? Do you know?" Her grandmother lightly bit down on her lower lip at the question, as she proceeded to softly reply,

"It belonged to my elder sister, Janine. I haven't seen it in years, I thought it had gone from time forever, but apparently, your friend had just stolen it. Or maybe it was my sister's friend. She used to have this rather… unusual and strange girl that she used to hang around with, she might have stolen it. She struck me as the type. I always wondered why she kept coming back into our lives at the worst moments." Veronica only found herself becoming more confused as time went on, with her not being sure how Dana had managed to get hold of a book that had been missing for apparently a long period of time, but she didn't want to believe that she had stolen it either.

"What was her friend's name?" Veronica inquired, hoping that perhaps Dana had been telling the truth about her finding it. Perhaps, if the girl that her grandmother's sister had been friends with had been a Salvatore, then perhaps she had stolen it for some unusual reason, and hidden it at the Boarding House where Dana had found it years later. She was a firm believer in innocent until proven guilty, and she didn't want to just accuse Dana of stealing it from somewhere if she hadn't done so. Her grandmother sighed to herself, as she clearly attempted to think up the name of the girl.

"I think it might have been… Diana? I can't remember, but her surname was Salvatore." Her grandmother responded, partially confirming Veronica's theory as she soon proceeded to get up onto her feet. "I think I have a photograph of the pair of them in one of the albums, hand on." Veronica nodded in response as her grandmother proceeded to head out of the room, leaving Veronica with her thoughts.

Truthfully, she had never been more confused in her entire life, with her having no real idea what was going on, but she supposed that at least she had some form of an idea as to why she was so drawn to that book in the first place. It was probably her sub-conscious somehow recognising the name on the front, as she possibly could have seen that style of writing earlier in her life through her Grams, and thus she had been connected to the item. That was more likely, in her opinion, than her being a witch and there being a connection between her and the book because of that. The young Bennett girl was snapped out of her thoughts by her grandmother re-entering the room, carrying a photo album in her hands as she soon sat back down beside Veronica. The elderly woman proceeded to open the book to a specific page, holding it out to the young woman. Veronica took hold of the book, looking at the photo that had been carefully stuck into the photo album, feeling her eyes widen slightly as she saw the two women in the photograph.

The one of the right was clearly her relative, based off the dark skin and dark hair that all Bennett women seemed to have, dressed in traditional 1920's clothing. The girl on the left, however, was the one who caught her attention. She was slightly taller than her relative, and with her long straight brown hair and bright blue eyes, she was the spitting image of Dana. Veronica blinked in slight bemusement, looking at the photograph once more to make sure that she wasn't seeing things, both relieved and terrified to see that she wasn't.

"When was this photo taken?" Veronica questioned when she had adjusted to the fact that a girl who went to her school had an identical twin that had been alive during the past, her brown eyes looking up at her grandmother who proceeded to gesture to a small handwritten note at the bottom of the page, causing the girl to look down at it. The words that were written there only further confused her about what exactly was going on here.

 _Janine Bennett and Dana Salvatore, 1921._

 **AN: And I'm gonna end it there! Thank you very much for reading, I hope you enjoyed! I know that this was a slightly shorter chapter, but I hope you liked the fact that it was all original! I know that not a lot happened, but I was trying to give you a greater insight into Veronica's character and her relationship with her grandmother, so hopefully that came across to all of you! I promise that the next chapter will be much longer, and that stuff will actually happen in the chapter! Anyway, I hope that you liked this chapter, even though it wasn't the longest, and that you liked getting to know Veronica a little bit better! I would also liked to once again thank everyone who has commented on this story, favourited it or in any way shown me that you like it. Thank you so much to those people, your support means a lot to me! Anyway, I'll stop repeating the same thank you's again, just because I don't want to irritate you all! If you wouldn't mind, please leave a review to let me know what you thought of this chapter, and I will see you all on Friday for the next one!**


	11. Chapter 10: Unexpected Revelations

**AN: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, any of the characters or the plot, that belongs to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. I solely own Dana and Veronica. All rights go to their original owners.**

Veronica wrapped her arms around herself tightly as she stood by her sister's side, her dark coloured eyes looking up at Mr Tanner as he stood at a large podium, about to give what was supposed to be a motivational speech to the football team before their big game. Dressed in the ridiculously skimpy cheerleading outfit that Caroline had forced her into, Veronica found herself feeling ridiculously freezing cold as well as ridiculously awkward. She didn't really have the figure for the outfit, which consisted of a burgundy tank top with the school's name on it and a skirt that barely reached the girl's thighs, and thus to say that she felt uncomfortable in the outfit would be an understatement. But, as Elena had dropped cheerleading, a decision that Veronica didn't blame her for in the slightest, Caroline had decided to promote the girl and actually use her at the game. The sound of loud cheering reached the girl's ears as she caught sight of Stefan standing with the football team, causing her to quickly look around for any sign of Dana, biting down on her lower lip when she didn't catch sight of her.

Her search for the young girl was broken when Mr Tanner spoke into the microphone, causing the girl to return her attention to the teacher. "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Wait. Let's be honest here. In the past, we used to let other teams come into our town and roll right over us!" He proclaimed, earning a loud series of boos from the crowd of teenagers that were here for the football game, whilst Veronica merely stood there in silence, not really caring about the football. "But that is about to change!" Mr Tanner exclaimed, earning a series of cheers from the crowd, as Veronica's brown eyes looked over at her sister for a few moments, a small smile pulling at her lips as she saw that her sister was one of the ones cheering, relieved that at least she was having fun. "We've got some great new talent tonight starting on the offense, and I'm gonna tell you right now, it has been a long time since I have seen a kid like this with hands like these. Let's give it up for Stefan Salvatore!" Tanner exclaimed, causing Stefan to modestly look down at his feet, clearly feeling slightly embarrassed by the cheering and praise that he was receiving.

This time, the young Bennett girl began to clap for the Salvatore boy, before she noticed the look of misery on the expressions of Matt and Tyler as a result of Tanner's words. Veronica raised an eyebrow as Tyler, who was also one of the members of the football team, proceeded to storm forward, disappearing into the crowd as Veronica turned back to face the teacher, curious about what the boy was up to. "That have been waiting for us to put a check in the win column, I have only one thing to say to you...Your Timberwolves are hungry. And the Central High Lions are what's for dinner!" Tanner concluded his supposedly motivational speech, before the sound of fighting and people throwing punches reached the ears of the Bennett girl and the entire crowd, resulting in her turning around. Panic rushed through her as she somehow managed to see through the crowd that Jeremy and Tyler were fighting, causing her to dash through the crowd, wanting to get to Jeremy and make him back down before he did something that he might regret at a later date.

However, just as she made it to the pair of fighting boys, Elena and Stefan had already got there, with Stefan grasping hold of Tyler's wrist and pulling him back slightly. Veronica went to Jeremy, seeing as the male was now down on the ground, almost immediately beginning to study him for wounds whilst Stefan began to talk to Tyler. The attention of the Bennett girl was brought away from Jeremy, just in time for her to see Tyler try and hit Stefan, with it apparently having no effect on the Salvatore boy, causing both the eyes of Tyler and Veronica to widen in slight confusion. However, before anyone had a chance to say anything to comment on Stefan's unaffected nature, Jeremy proceeded to pick up something from the floor, drunkenly swiping out as Veronica soon realised that it was glass.

"Jeremy, stop!" Veronica snapped, as she raised her hand, going to get up on her feet before the weirdest thing happened. Just as Stefan managed to get in between Tyler and Jeremy, apparently getting hurt in the process, the piece of glass abruptly shot out of Jeremy's hand, just as Veronica's eyes made contact with it. The abrupt action of the glass caused the girl's dark coloured eyes to widen slightly and fill with confusion, although she soon got up onto her feet, approaching Jeremy as she attempted to pull him back with the help of Elena, soon getting between him and Tyler.

"Tyler, knock it off! Stop!" Matt exclaimed as he restrained the dark-haired male, clearly attempting to calm him down slightly. Elena soon looked at Stefan, clearly concerned by the mark that the male had on his hand as a result of Jeremy slashing at his hand, with Veronica's large focus being on calming Jeremy down. Her brown eyes looked between the three males for a few moments, and once Veronica studied Jeremy, she noticed that he had a small cut on the top of his head.

"Jeremy…" The young girl trailed off, her almost natural medical instincts cutting in, wanting to treat the wound before it got any worse. "You're bleeding, please, let me help you." She spoke as she stepped in front of the boy, her expression softening as Jeremy proceeded to roll his eyes and pulled away from her.

"It's fine, Ronica, don't worry." Jeremy insisted, as he lightly brushed some of the blood away from his forehead, causing Veronica to lightly bite down on her lower lip in pure concern for the boy, wishing that he would just let her help him. The young woman looked up at the male, as he tried to walk past her, the overwhelming scent of alcohol soon hitting her causing her to realise that he was completely drunk, and that was probably why he had tried to cause the fight with Tyler.

"Jer…" She trailed off as the boy stormed past her, only for the boy to completely ignore her call of concern as he headed off into the crowd, presumably planning on getting even more drunk. The young woman crossed her arms over her chest, a small sigh soon falling from her lips.

Little did she know that things were about to get even more dramatic.

* * *

As Veronica walked towards the large football pitch where the game would be happening, she found herself caught up in a large crowd, causing her to wonder what on earth was happening. The young woman came to a stop, her brown eyes soon catching sight of her sister stood at the front of the crowd, as she walked closer to her. "Bon?" She asked, clearly confused by what was happening. "What is it? What's going on?" She asked, before her eyes caught sight of the large ambulance that was parked a few inches ahead of her that she had been unable to clearly see until now, feeling panic rush through her. Had something happened to Jeremy? Or someone else that she cared about? Bonnie didn't even give an audible reaction to the question of the girl, not needing to as a few men dressed in black soon appeared, moving a large tray with a black body bag on it, causing her eyes to widen in pure and utter fear.

"It… It was Mr Tanner." Bonnie breathed softly, causing Veronica's heart to drop within her chest. The man who had been teaching her history for the past few years was dead. She stood there for a few moments, needing a brief while to truly take in the news, not entirely sure how she should fully react. She hadn't especially liked Tanner, but that didn't mean that she'd wanted him dead. "Matt found him. There's rumours that it might be an animal attack, but… they're not sure." Bonnie added on, causing Veronica to be hit with an extreme amount of sympathy for the blond-haired boy. It can't have been particularly nice to discover a dead body. As Veronica went to open her mouth in order to respond to her sister's words, her dark coloured eyes soon caught sight of a very familiar brunette lurking around a few inches away from the group with her hands in her pockets.

Dana.

Almost immediately, Veronica tilted her head slightly, beginning to approach the girl as her curiosity and desire for answers overwhelmed her urge to comfort her sister. This was the first time that she'd seen her all day, and she wanted some answers to her question. She approached the young girl, noticing in slight confusion as the Salvatore girl almost immediately proceeded to turn on her heel and head off in the other direction. Veronica followed after the young female, finding herself oddly mirroring Caroline in that moment, so incredibly desperate for her search for answers. As they managed to get a fair distance away from the noise that the crowd was making, Dana abruptly came to a stop, with her soon turning on her heel and looking back to face the young Bennett girl with a small smile on her expression. "Well, aren't you just adorable?" She sarcastically commented, as she crossed her arms over her chest soon afterwards. "I mean, I'm disappointed in the lack of pompoms and ridiculously overwhelming team spirit, to be honest. I've never been able to meet an actual stereotypical cheerleader." Dana commented, causing Veronica to raise an eyebrow, curious about how Dana could make jokes at a time like this. Did she have little to no empathy? Admittedly, Dana hadn't really had a large amount of time to get attached to Mr Tanner, but a man had just _died_. From the morgue van that had just showed up, Dana should be able to figure that out surely, and learn to show some compassion.

"This isn't a time for jokes, Dana." Veronica commented softly, her voice full of emotion and nervousness, as her dark coloured eyes looked at the young woman, causing Dana to playfully roll her eyes.

"It's always a time for jokes, Ronnie." Dana replied simply, her arms crossing over her chest. "Remember, wise words of the day, if you don't laugh, you'll cry." Dana lightly raised her eyebrow as she looked at the girl, abruptly noticing the look of concern and thought held on the girl's expression. "What's wrong? I mean, other than the obvious death and all."

"What are you?" Veronica abruptly cut her off, no longer wanting to hear Dana ramble and rave about her usual sarcastic banter. She didn't want to hear her lie to her anymore, she just wanted some answers to her question. "That book you gave me, it belonged to one of my family members, and hasn't been seen in years, you're ridiculously strong despite the fact that you look like a twig, and I saw some… weird pictures when I first shook your hand. That's not normal, Dana. So, either there's something wrong here or I'm going completely insane, so tell me which one it is. Please." Veronica explained, causing the girl to look up at her, soon giving a small shrug of her shoulders in response.

"Well, I wondered how long it would be until you figured that one out." Dana replied in her own usual cynical tone. "Since you asked, I'm a vampire, Veronica. And you, my friend, are a witch. So's your sister, and your grandmother. Nothing more to say. It's really that simple." Veronica's eyes widened at her words, not really believing that she was telling the truth, guessing that she was probably drunk in that moment. That was the only way that what she was saying could make any form of sense. Vampire weren't real, they were just stories, creatures made up to scare people. Nothing more and nothing less.

As Veronica opened her mouth in order to respond to Dana's words and tell her to stop joking, Dana proceeded to turn on her heel and head off, leaving the young Bennett girl completely bemused and all alone in the dark. She had no idea what was going on, whether Dana had been being truly serious about her being a vampire, which was perhaps the most improbable thing possible in the entire universe, or if she was just drunk. Her grandmother would probably just claim that with the witch instinct that she possessed would enable her to figure out if she was truly some creature from a supernatural world, but the rational side of her was reminding her consistently that witches, and indeed vampires, didn't exist. They weren't real, and that was the end of it, and with that, the young girl proceeded to turn on her heel and head back to her sister in order to give her the comfort that she needed in those horrific and dark moments.

The young female had no idea just how wrong she was about vampires.

 **AN: And I'm going to end it there! Thank you very much for reading, I hope you enjoyed! We are now truly getting to the story, so I hope that you are all still enjoying it and reading about Veronica and Dana's adventures, and that you're beginning to get to know my characters a little bit better! You might even be starting to like one of them more than the other! If you are, do let me know whether you prefer Veronica or Dana, I'm truly curious! Anyway, if you don't mind, please leave me a review to let me know what you thought of this chapter or the story in general, and I'll see you in the next update on Monday!**


	12. Chapter 11: The Reality Of The Matter

**AN: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, any of the characters or the plot, that belongs to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. I solely own Dana and Veronica. All rights go to their original owners.**

Veronica sighed to herself, as she walked into the Grill with Caroline and her sister, her eyes looking rather intently down at her shoes as she walked. Her mind, as always, was obsessing over Dana, her mind still idly mulling over the words that the girl had spoken to her. She found herself unable to settle and truly relax her mind until she figured out what was going on with the young woman. Whether her admittance of her being a vampire had truly just been a drunken reflex, or the truth. Admittedly, the young girl didn't know much about vampires, aside from what she had read in stories and general pop culture. She knew that they had fangs, generally couldn't go out in the sunlight, were incredibly pale, drank blood and quite often killed people. Dana met a few of those qualities, but not all of them. It was weird.

Although, perhaps if vampires were real, they wouldn't necessarily be like they were in the books. Perhaps they would be different, there would be no way to tell unless Dana did end up being a vampire. Then she supposed that she could just ask her what came with being a vampire. "You're taking Damon to the founder's party? What about me?" Bonnie's voice inquired, causing Veronica to come out of her thoughts, her brown eyes looking over at her sister. There were rare moments when she was glad that Caroline and Bonnie were completely removed from the drama that had begun to fill her life recently with the arrival of the Salvatore family. It gave her a chance to escape from the worries that normally filled her life, and begin to talk about something normal, like the Founder's Party. It was this large event that the Lockwoods were throwing in order to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the town of Mystic Falls, where they would be showing off incredibly old objects that belonged to the Founding Families, which included the Gilberts, the Lockwoods, the Fells, the Forbes' and of course, the Salvatores. The young woman lightly bit down on her lower lip, her brown eyes flicking between her two friends for a few moments in mild intrigue.

"Go with Elena." Caroline responded simply to her friend's question, causing a look of slight offence to soon form on Bonnie's expression. She was clearly feeling slightly offended by her friend's response that she wasn't even willing to consider going to the Founders Party with her, and would far rather go with Damon, someone who Caroline barely knew and had only been dating for a matter of days. Veronica could understand Bonnie being slightly offended by that. Back when she and Jeremy had actually been rather close, she probably wouldn't have been too happy if he'd just decided to abandon her to go the party with Vicki Donovan, although she guessed that would be probably what would end up happening. Jeremy seemed to almost immediately find a way to excuse himself each time Veronica tried to go anywhere near him lately, so she supposed that he would probably go with Vicki to the event, or just not go and instead sneak off to get high with her. That seemed to be his latest hobby.

"She's going with Stefan." Bonnie responded simply, causing Caroline to give a small shrug of her shoulders, soon coming to a stop. She clearly did not care all that much for Bonnie's wishes, solely about going with Damon, which was unusual for Caroline. She was normally a more compassionate and caring soul, who cared about Bonnie, Elena and all of her friends and what they wanted. Veronica had no idea why she was acting like this. It was unusual to say the least.

"Then go by yourself, or go with Ronnie." Caroline replied, causing Veronica to softly sigh to herself, allowing a hand to run through her hair. She truthfully hadn't been planning on really going to the party. She hadn't ever really been all that interested in the founding families, and thus had no real desire to go and spend the evening with Carol Lockwood, a woman who had spent practically her whole life looking down at her.

"Gee, thanks." Bonnie stated simply, as the group of three soon came to a table, with Caroline sitting on the far side by herself, and Veronica and Bonnie sitting opposite her. "What about your mom? Is she okay with you bringing Damon?" Veronica's brown eyes went to the blonde Forbes girl that was sat opposite her, as a small scoff soon fell from the blonde's lips, almost as if the answer was obvious.

"And I'm supposed to care why?" Caroline asked in a slightly sarcastic tone, which caused Veronica to lightly bite down on her lower lip at the girl's flippant disregard for her mother. Liz Forbes had always been incredibly civil to her for her entire life. Sure, she could be a bit of a workaholic at times, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Veronica would rather have a mother that worked far too hard and was actually around, than having a mother who had walked out on her and Bonnie shortly after they were born with no explanation. But, apparently, Caroline didn't share that viewpoint.

"He's older sexy danger guy." Bonnie answered, causing Veronica to slightly raise an eyebrow in response to her words. She didn't really even understand why Bonnie was attempting to even try and dissuade Caroline from going on this date with Damon. Caroline had a tendency to be incredibly stubborn, and if she wanted to do something, then she would do it. There would be no questions asked about that.

"Older sexy danger guy? Is that an official witch twitter tweet?" Caroline asked in a clearly joking tone, causing Veronica to tense slightly. The mention of witches had once again brought her back to the conversation that she'd had with Dana the night before, and how serious the girl had been when she had answered that she was a vampire and Veronica was a witch. It had been rather bizarre, although she supposed that her obsessing over this entire thing was probably a bit weird. Most people would probably just dismiss it as lunacy or drunkenness, but Veronica always had been one to refuse to give up on something until she had figured it out completely. Just as Caroline was determined to do whatever she wanted to do, regardless of the consequences, Veronica was always determined to get answers, no matter how long it took her to do so. "Besides, Damon's not dangerous. You know, he just has a lot of issues with his brother. You know, like major, deep-rooted drama." Caroline's voice chirped up once more, bring the girl out of her thoughts as she softly sighed to herself.

"He's a bit weird. You have to admit that." Veronica commented softly, speaking for the first time since the conversation had drifted towards Damon and his supposed deep-rooted dramatic issues. As a result of her words, Caroline merely shrugged her shoulders in a careless nature.

"I don't really care." Caroline replied softly. "You'll understand some day, Ron." Veronica sighed softly in response to the girl's words, as she gave a small nod in response, deciding not to get into a proper debate with Caroline about Damon, as she knew that she was more than likely to lose when it came to Care. She was incredibly good at arguing.

"You mentioned some deep-rooted drama. What do you mean by that?" Bonnie asked in a curious tone, her head tilting slightly as she brought the conversation back towards Damon and his drama, clearly attempting to find out more about Stefan and his past. Apparently, the images that she had seen upon touching Stefan had been enough to cause her to have a strong concern about Elena and what the male might be up to.

"I'm not really supposed to say anything." Caroline responded almost automatically, causing Veronica's head to tilt as a look of intrigue soon formed on her expression. Caroline's answer had managed to get her actually interested in what this drama was between the two Salvatore brothers, wondering what it was that Stefan had done that had managed to send Damon off on this supposedly dark and dangerous path.

"Caroline Forbes, when have you ever kept a secret in your life?" Bonnie reminded the girl of her natural love of gossip, which caused Caroline to sigh softly. She was clearly slightly hesitant about sharing whatever it was that Damon had told her, something that caused Veronica to both admire and become slightly worried about Caroline. The girl's respect for Damon's wishes was admirable, but at the same time, she couldn't help but be slightly worried about the slight fear that Caroline had about approaching the issue. Her mind almost immediately leapt to the worst conclusion, worrying that Caroline might have been hurt by Damon as an attempt to get her to keep that secret, but she knew that she couldn't just accuse the elder Salvatore of doing so without any sort of evidence.

"Okay." Caroline eventually caved in, her blue eyes looking up at the two Bennett girls that were sat opposite her. "But you can't tell Elena. Neither of you can. Promise me."

"I promise." Veronica spoke first, truly meaning her words. She had no idea what it was that Caroline was about to tell them, but she had no plans on telling anyone anything that might result in getting Caroline into trouble, unless it was something that resulted in Elena's life or anyone else's potentially being in danger. That would be the only thing that would cause her to even consider telling anyone what the blonde girl was about to tell them.

* * *

Veronica allowed an incredibly nervous breath to fall from her lips as she stood in front of the mirror of her bedroom, studying herself for a few moments, lightly running her fingers across the surface of her dress. She wasn't even too sure why she was bothering to dress up for this stupid Founder's Party, but she supposed that it was just the thing to do. It was a formal event after all, and she wasn't too sure that she wanted to spend another evening of having Carol Lockwood sneer at her because she had turned up to her precious formal Founder's Party in a t-shirt and a pair of jeans. Thus, she had decided to wear a rather casual and simple knee length dark blue dress, a pair of tights and some ankle boots, with most of her outfit being suggested by Caroline who actually had some form of knowledge on the topic of fashion and what actually looked good. As the young Bennett girl grabbed hold of the straighteners in an attempt to straighten out some of the small kinks and curls that she naturally had in her hair, her dark coloured eyes soon caught sight of someone very familiar resting against the doorway.

Dana.

The girl placed down the straighteners soon afterwards, as she turned to face the Salvatore girl, not really feeling in the mood for her latest riddle and series of jokes. "Hello, Dana. How did you get in?" She asked, attempting to retain at least some element of politeness as she spoke to the girl, who merely gave a small shrug of her shoulders in response to her question before standing upright soon afterwards.

"Your sister… invited me in, just as she was on her way out. She didn't seem too happy to see me though. Not sure what I did to offend her." Dana replied, as she stepped into the bedroom of the Bennett girl, and studied her for a few moments. "So, where's the party? Did someone forget to invite the awkward weird girl again?" She asked, causing Veronica to softly shake her head in response to the question.

"It's the Founder's Party tonight. I'm being forced to go, thus why I'm dressed like this." Veronica answered, causing Dana to tilt her head softly, soon sitting down on the windowsill as her bright blue eyes looked up at the girl.

"They still actually do those things? God, I remember those. They were insanely boring." Dana replied, causing Veronica to laugh softly in response.

"You went to the Founder's Parties? When?" Veronica inquired curiously as she picked up the straighteners, beginning to straighten out her hair, paying more attention to making sure that she didn't burn her hair than anything else.

"Um…" Dana replied, as she clearly considered the girl's question, crossing her arms over her chest soon afterwards. "1920? I'm not sure. It was a long time ago." Veronica allowed a small laugh to fall from her lips in response to the girl's words, her brown eyes looking back at her for a few moments as she proceeded to place down her straighteners for a few moments so that she wouldn't risk damaging her hair. A look of clear disbelief soon formed on the girl's expression as she looked at the Salvatore girl, which caused Dana to gently scoff and give a small shrug of her shoulders. "I'm telling the truth. I know that you don't believe me, and honestly, I don't blame you. Some weird girl just shows up from nowhere, claiming to be a vampire, I'd probably think that she was mad too." She spoke in a tone that was oddly soft for Dana. "But trust me, Veronica, I'm not lying to you. I wouldn't gain anything from lying to you, would I?" The young Salvatore girl asked, as Veronica gave a small shrug of her shoulders in response to her question.

"I don't know. I don't know you very well, who knows what your motives might be." Veronica replied truthfully, as she began to straighten the remainder of her hair, her brown eyes focussing on her reflection in the mirror. "For all I know, you're a compulsive liar who secretly… kicks puppies off of cliffs or something." The girl spoke, causing Dana to burst out laughing for a short while, causing her to soon cover up her mouth in an attempt to muffle her sounds. When the Bennett girl briefly flicked her eyes away from the mirror to look at her, Dana managed to calm herself down, taking a mere matter of minutes to do so.

"Sorry. It's just rather amusing that a lying puppy-kicker is the darkest person that you can think of." Dana responded, as Veronica sighed to herself, finally finishing straightening her hair, as she unplugged the straighteners, leaving them to cool down and she continued to get ready for the party that she didn't even want to go to. "Veronica." The Salvatore girl spoke, causing Veronica to turn to face her once more. "Listen. Just for once, can't you suspend your stubborn cynical mind and believe me? Invite me to this stupid founder's party, and I'll prove it to you. I'll prove to you that vampires are real." Dana spoke, as she proceeded to approach the Bennett girl, her eerie bright blue eyes looking into the dark brown ones of Veronica. Hesitantly, the Bennett sighed to herself, as she gave a small nod in response. Her internal and often annoying desire to see the best in everyone wanted Dana to be telling the truth, and just this once, she would place her belief and faith into the Salvatore girl that she had just met.

What was the worst that could happen, after all?

 **AN: And I'm going to end it there! Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed! I just want to say thank you to all of the people who left reviews on the previous chapter, it really meant a lot! I love reading what you guys have to say, so if you'd like to, go ahead and leave a review, either letting me know what you thought about the chapter, what you think of my OC's or just the story in general! Everyone seems to be really excited for Alaric to arrive, and as of this chapter, you will only have 7 more chapters to wait until he arrives, so don't worry! You don't have much longer to wait now! Anyway, thank you once again for reading, and I'll see you again on Friday for the next update!**


	13. Chapter 12: The Party Of Disaster

**AN: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, any of the characters or the plot, that belongs to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. I solely own Dana and Veronica. All rights go to their original owners.**

A gentle smile of welcome pulled at the lips of Veronica as she and Dana finally reached the large open doorway of the ridiculously large Lockwood manor, Carol Lockwood soon approaching the two girls. "Veronica! Welcome! You look lovely, dear." The woman greeted the young Bennett girl politely, clearly faking a smile as she looked at her.

"Thank you, Mrs Lockwood." Veronica replied respectfully, as her brown eyes flicked over to Dana. "This is my friend, Dana Salvatore." The girl introduced the Mayor's wife to her new… well, she supposed that she could refer to her as a friend. Carol looked at the girl, a clear look of disapproval soon forming on her expression as she saw that the girl was dressed casually in a black band t-shirt, slightly torn and faded jeans, scuffed sneakers and a black leather jacket, but her look of displeasure apparently didn't bother Dana in the slightest as the Salvatore girl slid her hands into her pockets casually.

"Charmed, I'm sure." Carol spoke with a clear tone of belittling held with her voice, before her attention returned to Veronica, the small counterfeit smile soon returning to her expression. "Well, you both can come in. Have a good time, girls." As soon as Carol had spoken, the pair stepped into the house, with Dana leaning slightly towards the Bennett girl once Carol had turned her attention to the group of people that were behind them.

"Good to see that the Lockwoods are still as pretentious as they used to be. At least I don't look like a mouldy lemon." Dana commented in a sarcastic tone, referring to the faint yellow and white dress that Carol was wearing, causing Veronica to softly laugh, almost immediately burying her laughter into her hand as the two of them walked away from Carol to make sure that she didn't decide to inquire about what it was that had caused the Bennett girl to laugh. "I mean, I thought that she was going to not invite me in from the way that she was looking at me. Remind me to never talk to her again." Dana eventually spoke once Veronica had stopped laughing, causing the Bennett to look over at the girl that was by her side with a look of curiosity.

"Why would that matter? There's side doors, if you're that desperate to get in here." Veronica responded, assuming that Dana, someone who came across as being rather street-smart, would be able to figure out that the front door wasn't the only way into this large manor.

"Because I have to be invited in." Dana spoke, quickly bringing down the volume of her voice to make sure that no one that was stood around would be able to hear her. "I have to be invited in by one of the occupants of the house, or else I encounter this weird invisible barrier and end up looking like one of those mime things. It's a rule that I'm pretty sure the witches made." Veronica nodded softly in understanding to her words, as she wrapped her arms around herself soon afterwards.

"What are the other rules?" Veronica asked softly, as the pair eventually came to a stop in one of the empty exhibition rooms, which contained a collection of items that had apparently been donated by the Fell family. She was curious, that much she couldn't deny. If Dana actually was a vampire, then Veronica wanted to find out what the exact limitations and strengths of her species were.

"No going outside in the sunlight. Normally, that is. I'm special." The brunette Salvatore girl responded, as she held up her right hand, showing Veronica that she had a very beautiful dark blue ring on her finger, bound in a silver band that was intricately decorated. "This is a daylight ring. Basically means that I won't turn into a horrific crisp each time I go outside my front door. A witch made it for me. Stefan and Damon have one too." Dana spoke, as she looked at a ring that the Fells had handed over to the exhibition, as she rolled her eyes slightly. "That thing is hideous. Anyway, other rules. To kill us, just in case you were thinking of becoming Buffy in the upcoming weeks, a stake to the heart normally works. Don't try holy water, crosses or garlic, if you don't want to look like a moron, that is. There's this herb, vervain, that burns us. Don't ask me why, it just does." The girl continued to explain, picking up one of the books in the display, with little regard for the 'please do not touch' sign that had been placed there, presumably by Carol, as she began to flick through the pages.

"Before you ask, yes, we drink blood. Unless you're Stefan, who drinks from Bambi, we drink human blood. Damon drinks directly from people, I steal from the hospital. It's not ideal, and if I ever get caught, I'm officially screwed, but, you know, it's that or die." Dana spoke, a small smirk pulling at her lips, as she soon proceeded to quickly dash forward, quickly disappearing into a blur before Veronica's very eyes. The girl was incredibly confused for a few moments, before she felt a light tap on her shoulder, causing her to look back, rather surprised to see Dana stood there. "Besides. Human blood makes me faster and more powerful and faster than you can imagine. Impressed yet?" She inquired with the smirk on her lips growing as Veronica's eyes widened in slight confusion.

"H-How did you do that?" The Bennett girl asked, causing Dana to roll her eyes slightly.

"I told you." Dana stated, as she proceeded to walk forward, placing down the book that she had been reading back onto the display, before she turned back to face Veronica. "It's because I'm a vampire. Comes with the territory. I go fast when I want to." Dana replied, making sure to softly decrease the volume of her voice just in case anyone happened to be walking past at that moment. "You have to believe me now, surely? I mean, short of me actually getting my fangs out and attacking someone, I'm not entirely sure what else I can to make you believe me." Veronica softly sighed to herself, as her brown eyes looked up at the Salvatore girl.

"This is crazy." Veronica commented, the rational and logical part of her brain telling her that there was no way that this was possible. Her moving really quickly had to be a trick or an illusion or something, and everything else that she had seen since had to be just an overactive imagination. Vampires, witches and all other supernatural creatures, there was no way that they were actually real. "And besides… if you are a… vampire, why would you tell me? Aren't you meant to keep your identity secret so that I don't turn you in?" Veronica asked, causing the Salvatore girl to shrug her shoulders carelessly.

"You sound like Stefan. When I told him that I told you what we are, he freaked out." Dana responded. "He was convinced that I'd have to compel you to forget, but then I reminded him that you're a witch and can't be compelled. Before you ask, compulsion is like mind-wiping, but it doesn't work on witches. Don't know why. Just never has." The girl rambled, with it taking the Bennett girl a few moments to catch up and process all of the information that Dana had just told her, as the girl nodded once she believed that she had understood everything. "Besides… I have my reasons for wanting you to know, and I think that you're too nice to hand me over. You're one of those people who care about people and their feelings, and for that, I think I can trust you." The Salvatore girl continued, causing Veronica's head to tilt slightly.

"Why did you tell me?" She asked, curious about the girl's motives, causing Dana to softly smirk.

"I'm not telling you." Dana responded, clearly attempting to drive the Bennett girl insane with curiosity, the mischievous glint in her eyes proving that she was having a lot of fun with her actions. "Come on, Ronnie, that would be too easy. Every good story has to be dragged out a little bit." Veronica allowed a small laugh to fall from her lips at the words of Dana, as the vampire's smirk grew slightly. "I happen to find it very amusing to watch you try and become Nancy Drew and find out all that you can about me. It's been a long time since someone has ever been this interested in me, I plan on making it last as long as possible. Damon's always been the one who gets all the attention." As soon as Damon was mentioned, Veronica's expression fell slightly as she remembered something.

"Caroline." She spoke, her voice trembling as her brain began to slowly but surely put together the pieces. The reason for Caroline's odd behaviour lately, Damon was compelling her, and the scarf that she was wearing… She was hiding bites on her neck, wasn't she? As the young woman came out of her thoughts, her brown eyes looked up and upon seeing the expression on Dana's face, she knew that the vampire knew exactly what was on her mind. "You know what Damon's doing to her, don't you?" She spoke, hoping that she was wrong in her assumption, but as Dana softly nodded in response, Veronica felt her heart sink within her chest. Nothing but pure fear for her close friend was running through her veins.

"It's a given with Damon." Dana spoke, a clear awkwardness held within her tone. "He plays with girls, especially human ones. He feeds from them, manipulates them, hurts them, and then… when he gets what he wants, he kills them." Veronica's eyes widened at Dana's words, as she took a few steps away from the girl, remembering that Caroline had mentioned that she was planning on attending this party with Damon. Hopefully, if she acted quickly and found them, then she would be able to save Caroline. She wasn't too sure what she could do against an apparently centuries old vampire who was probably a million times more powerful than Veronica herself was, but she was willing to give it a chance if it meant saving her friend. As Veronica went to head towards the door, she felt Dana speed towards her and tightly grip onto her wrist, pulling her back slightly. As Veronica looked at her with confusion clearly held within her eyes, Dana looked up at her.

"Stefan has a plan to deal with Damon, and this one might actually work." She hissed at the Bennett girl, apparently fearful that Damon might take this moment to linger around the door and overhear them, despite the fact that virtually no one had come past this part of the exhibition for the entire evening. "Although Stefan is an idiot about 99% of the time, I think that this'll work. Don't get in the way and possibly blow things because of some stupid blonde bimbo." Dana commented, causing Veronica to almost immediately tug back her wrist, and shoot a small glare in the direction of the Salvatore girl as she lightly shoved her away from her with there not being enough force in her push to risk hurting the woman.

"That 'bimbo' is my friend. And if she's in danger, I don't care about some dumb plan or what your cousin is going to do to me, I'm going to help her." Veronica spoke, clearly feeling slightly offended by Dana's suggestion that she shouldn't care about Caroline's safety. As Dana went to grab her again, Veronica backed up into the hallway, her brown eyes looking at the girl. "Leave me alone. I'm going to help my friend." Veronica spoke, her protective nature over those that she cared about clearly showing in the way that she spoke, before she headed off towards the large staircase, finding herself surrounded by people once more. Her brown eyes looked through the crowd for any sign of the blonde girl, her cold boyfriend or even Stefan or Elena who might be able to direct her in Caroline's direction. As the girl continued to move slowly through the crowd of people, looking for anyone that she knew with a clear air of desperation held in her expression, she soon found herself colliding with someone. As the girl went to apologise, she soon realised that it was Liz Forbes, Caroline's mother and the Sheriff of Mystic Falls, that she had bumped into.

"Veronica?" Liz asked, apparently noticing the look of panic that was held within the Bennett girl's eyes, as she studied the girl for a few moments. "Are you alright? What's happened?" Veronica allowed a nervous breath to fall from her lips as she considered what she could tell Liz, knowing that if she mentioned that Damon was a vampire, she would just be convinced that Veronica was insane or drunk, and thus wouldn't believe her concerns about her daughter.

"Have… Have you seen Caroline?" Veronica asked, deciding to just play it up as though she had lost Caroline at the party and that she wanted to talk to her about something. That shouldn't cause Liz to become too worried. "I wanted to talk to her about something and I can't find her anywhere." At Veronica's question, Liz lightly bit down on her lower lip for a few moments, as she placed her hands into the pockets of her uniform.

"I'm sorry, Ronnie, I haven't seen her since she arrived." Liz responded. "In my usual manner, I commented on her new boyfriend… Damon, is it? She didn't seem too happy about that." Veronica sighed to herself, as she nodded in response to her words.

"It's fine. I'm sure that I'll find her." Veronica responded, giving the woman a small smile in an attempt to reassure her that everything was fine, when her heart was racing within her chest in pure terror about what Damon might had done to her friend. "Have a nice night, Sheriff Forbes."

"It's Liz, Veronica, please." Liz assured the young woman, giving her a small and gentle smile in response. "If I see Caroline, I'll tell her that you're looking for her, alright? Be safe." Veronica nodded softly in response to the elder woman's words, as she headed off once more in her determined search for Caroline, as she soon found herself in the room that contained the bar, her brown eyes soon catching sight of Elena's aunt Jenna sat at the bar with the local news reporter Logan Fell, and based off the expression on Jenna's face, she didn't seem to be too happy talking to the man. Taking this as a sign that it would be alright to interrupt, Veronica slowly approached the pair, noticing the slight glare that Logan shot at her as Jenna looked up at the Bennett girl.

"Hey, Ron." Jenna greeted her, a look of slight relief forming in her eyes as she took a small sip from her large glass of red wine. "What's wrong?"

"Don't suppose you've seen Caroline, have you?" Veronica asked, her brown eyes looking down at the woman, hoping with everything that she had within her that the woman would know what had happened to Caroline, and that she was safely within the large Lockwood house, having fun with her friends. But, when Jenna shook her head in response, Veronica's heart fell within her chest once more.

"I'm sorry, Ronnie, no, I haven't seen her at all this evening." Jenna replied honestly. "Although, I have been sort of busy attempting to be left alone." She added on, looking past the Bennett girl to shoot a small glare in the direction of Logan, causing the man to roll his eyes slightly and take a small sip from his drink.

"You love me really, Jenna." Logan commented, causing Veronica to shoot a small discouraging look in his expression, hoping that the gesture would get him to leave Jenna alone. But upon seeing that the male didn't even move a muscle, it was evident that didn't work, causing her attention to return to Jenna soon afterwards.

"In your dreams, Logan." Jenna commented, her eyes soon looking back at the Bennett. "I wish I could be more help." Veronica softly shook her head in response, faking a smile through the worry that she was feeling in order to reassure the woman that it wasn't even that big of an issue.

"Oh, don't worry about it." Veronica reassured the woman, lightly placing a hand on Jenna's arm. "I'll find her. I just wanted to talk to her about… cheerleading routines." The young girl commented, shooting a small look in Logan's direction, before she moved slightly closer to Jenna so that the woman would be the only one to hear her. "If he doesn't stop bothering you, just ask Sheriff Forbes to deal with him, OK? He doesn't seem to be the type to take no for an answer." She spoke quietly, causing Jenna to softly scoff in response.

"Oh, trust me, Ron. I've got this." Jenna commented in a confident tone, taking another drink from her glass. "I hope you find Caroline." Veronica nodded softly in response, placing her hands into her pockets as she headed out of the nearby large patio doors that headed out into the Lockwood's large garden, the cold night air almost immediately hitting her skin. A small shiver ran down the girl's spine, as she put her hand into her pocket and produced her phone, deciding to dial Caroline's number and see if she got a response. If she didn't, then she would have to go back to Liz and tell her that she was incredibly worried about her daughter and thought that she might be in danger. She pressed the phone to her ear, as the sound of ringing on the other end seemed to go on for hours on end, but eventually the phone was picked up.

"H-Hello?" Caroline's voice trembled through the phone, causing Veronica's heart to virtually stop within her chest as relief ran through her veins.

"Care? Care, it's me, Ronnie. Where are you?" Veronica asked as she looked around herself for a few moments, getting ready to almost immediately dash off once Caroline told her where she was, as she didn't like the way that the usually incredibly confident girl's voice sounded in that moment. She sounded afraid and upset, two emotions that were very rare to come from Caroline.

"I…" Caroline began and then trailed off. "I'm by the lake at the Lockwood house." She spoke softly, with Veronica soon looking up. The lake wasn't far from where she was, she could be there in a matter of minutes if she walked quickly.

"Alright, Care, I'll be right there, hang on." Veronica spoke, as she proceeded to hang up on the girl, quickly heading in the direction of the lake, unable to really run properly in the shoes that she was wearing. Regardless, it didn't take her long to reach the large lake at the very bottom of the Lockwood property, her eyes looking around in the darkness for a few moments, before she caught sight of a figure a short distance away from her, dimly lit up by the bright lights coming from the house. "Caroline?" The Bennett girl called as she approached the figure, causing it to look in her direction, with her soon seeing that it was indeed her blonde close friend. As Veronica went to comment her relief that the girl was alright, she saw the way that the girl was slightly shaking before her, causing worry to run through her once more. "Care?" Veronica asked as she reached Caroline, lightly placing a hand on her shoulder, which caused the girl to tense. "Caroline, it's me, it's Veronica. What is it? What happened?" She asked, now feeling very worried about her friend, as Caroline allowed a very nervous and trembling breath to fall from her lips.

"I… I'm fine. It's just that Damon… I'm fine." Caroline rambled, her words not making any sense as she proceeded to continue to softly mumble to herself that everything was fine as she soon broke down into tears, causing Veronica to almost immediately pull her into her arms. The blonde girl almost immediately returned the hug as she began to cry into Veronica's shoulder, mumbling a combination of Damon's name and saying that everything was fine in between her tears. Veronica lightly rubbed circles onto her friend's back in an attempt to comfort her, softly shushing her, as she decided in that moment that from now on, she was going to have nothing more to do with either Damon or Dana. Her friends, those she had known her whole life were far more important to her than her dumb curiosity about some vampires.

Hurting and manipulating Caroline was the final straw.

 **AN: And I'm going to end it there! Thank you very much for reading, I hope you enjoyed! This was a slightly longer chapter than I normally do, but I hope that you appreciated it anyway! I also want to thank everyone that's favourited/followed this story since Monday, it means a lot! Anyway, if you don't mind, please let me know what you thought of this chapter or just anything to do with the story in a review as it would mean a lot, and I'll see you in the next one on Monday, when we'll only have 5 chapters until Alaric arrives!**


	14. Chapter 13: Everything Is Fine

**AN: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, any of the characters or the plot, that belongs to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. I solely own Dana and Veronica. All rights go to their original owners.**

Veronica lightly tugged her dark brown hair into a tight ponytail on the top of her head as she casually rested against the black car that her sister and Matt were currently cleaning as part of Caroline's latest attempt to forget everything that had happened with Damon. Caroline had decided to organise a 'sexy' car wash as a fundraiser, and had decided to rope Veronica, Bonnie and Elena into helping out, and to say that the young Bennett girl felt slightly uncomfortable dressed in ridiculously short shorts and a dark blue bikini top would be a bit of an understatement. She wasn't all that comfortable with her body, so being forced to show herself off was possibly her worst nightmare. The young girl soon came out of her thoughts as she heard her sister talk, her dark coloured eyes looking over at her sister, who seemed much more confident dressed in revealing clothing than Veronica was. "Uh-uh, no. None of that tortured pining stuff." Bonnie commented, looking over at Matt, who seemed to looking over in another direction. Veronica straightened herself up as she followed Matt's line of sight to see Stefan and Elena kissing each other, a small exhale of breath falling from her lips at the sight of the Salvatore boy. Damon, Stefan and Dana hadn't been around for the past three days, and the young woman had hoped that meant that Stefan had decided to make them all leave town so that Damon wouldn't cause any more harm, but apparently not. Matt's eyes hesitantly pulled away from the couple, his attention turned to Bonnie soon afterwards.

"I'm just observing." Matt argued, causing Veronica to softly scoff in response, lightly picking up one of the sponges within the nearby water bucket, deciding that she might as well attempt to help out, as she soon playfully flicked some water in Matt's direction.

"If you're observing, then I'm Matt Damon." The young woman commented in a light-hearted tone, causing Matt so softly chuckle, as he dried the small amounts of water away from his face with the material of his shirt.

"I'll get you back for that." Matt responded as he threw his sponge over at the girl and managed to hit her in the shoulder, causing the Bennett girl to start giggling, enjoying herself for the first time that afternoon. Just as she went to get more water, her attention was diverted when the sound of a car pulling up reached her ears, causing her to look over to the right. A relatively simple red car had just pulled up, as the owner, a young man dressed casually in jeans and a t-shirt soon got of the car. Veronica shot him a small and polite smile as a greeting, as Bonnie soon spoke once more.

"Oh. Tiki. this one's yours." Bonnie commented, looking over at one of Caroline's many friends that had been forced to take part in this fundraiser, with Veronica soon noticing the look of disapproval and judgement that formed on Tiki's expression as she saw the man's car.

"Why do I always get the homely ones?" Tiki complained looking at Bonnie, causing Veronica's sister to raise an eyebrow in slight confusion. Tiki turned to look at the driver of the car, as she proceeded to rudely comment, "Just to be clear, your car's a P.O.S. I mean, we can wash it, but it's still a P.O.S." Veronica watched in awkward silence as the owner of the car shot a small glare back in Tiki's direction, as he left his car door open and threw his keys into the driver's seat. Veronica wrapped her arms around herself, wishing that she had enough confidence to tell Tiki that she shouldn't be so horrible to the man, seeing as he probably couldn't afford a Mercedes or something. However, almost as if she could read her mind, Bonnie proceeded to comment,

"You don't have to be rude." Tiki merely rolled her eyes as she proceeded to grab a bucket that was half full of water, placing a hose into it in order to fill it up with water, her eyes soon looking back up at Bonnie.

"Rude is uglying up the road with that junk." Tiki responded as she stood upright, soon looking back at Veronica as she saw the slight glare that Veronica was giving her. "What are you looking at, Bennett?" She almost snapped at the Bennett girl, but before she got a chance to respond to her words, the bucket of water that Tiki had been filling up weirdly proceeded to practically explode, sending water flying up into the air and drenching the rather rude girl. Veronica allowed another barely audible laugh to fall from her lips as Matt dashed to turn off the hosepipe, her eyes looking over at Bonnie as she saw the look of slight confusion that was contained within Bonnie's eyes. "Whoa! What the hell?" Tiki questioned as the hose finally stopped blasting out water, as Veronica moved closer to her sister, slightly bemused about the expression on her sister's face.

"Are you alright?" Veronica spoke softly to her, as Bonnie looked up at her, and breathed softly in response.

"I don't know." As Veronica went to ask what her sister meant by that, Matt's voice once again brought her out of her thoughts, causing her to look over at the blond boy as he approached the drenched girl.

"Wet and wild, Tik." Matt jokingly commented, causing Tiki to slightly glare at him, before Veronica softly sighed as another, slightly fancier black car pulled up behind Tiki.

"Bon, I'll go and deal with that car, but we'll talk later, OK?" Veronica spoke quietly to her sister, lightly placing one of her arms around her, as Bonnie nodded softly in response. Veronica gave her a gentle smile of encouragement, before she hesitantly released her sister, picking up a nearly full bucket of water and a sponge and walked over to the car. As she placed down the bucket by the bonnet of the car and began to clean the dirt off it, a familiar female voice spoke to her.

"Can I help?" The Bennett girl looked up from the bonnet of the car and over in the direction of the voice, her smile faltering slightly as she saw who was stood before her. For once not dressed in her casual jeans and t-shirt and instead being dressed in a tank top and a pair of shorts that went just over her knees, Dana was stood before her with a slightly awkward smile on her face. "I brought one of these shimmy things." Dana offered, holding up the item in her hand, apparently seeing the expression that was held on the Bennett girl's face.

"What are you doing here, Dana?" Veronica asked softly, as she stopped washing the car to hear the girl out, figuring that she at least owed her that.

"Cleaning cars. That's what they do at car washes, right?" Dana asked, the familiar look of slight arrogance forming on her expression. "Figured I should at the very least try and make friends, you know. So, I asked Caroline if I could help, and now here I am. This is the littlest amount of clothing that I wear, so hopefully Blondie won't kill me for not dressing like I'm going to the beach or a strip club." Veronica softly sighed to herself at the girl's response, not entirely sure what she should say in response, not having enough confidence within her to tell the girl to go away as she had done on the night of the Founder's Party. She apparently needed a ridiculous amount of adrenaline and fear coursing through her system to show any form of bravery.

"And where have you been for the past few days? You, Damon and Stefan have been mysteriously missing." Veronica eventually asked, as she picked up the sponge once more, deciding that she might as well attempt to do some work whilst she listened to Dana's latest series of riddles about her life.

"Looking after Damon." Dana replied simply, as she approached the car and casually rested against the bonnet. "I told you we were going to take care of him, we are. On the night of the Founder's Party, Stefan filled Caroline's drink with vervain, enough to knock Damon out for a long time. When Damon drank from her, he was knocked out. Stefan and I took him to the Boarding House, and locked him up in one of the cells underneath our house. We're planning on leaving him there without any blood, until he eventually dries out and desiccates. Then, Stefan will take him to the family crypt and lock him up there where he can't hurt anyone. That peaceful enough for you?" She explained, as Veronica stopped cleaning the car once more to look over at her. "Stefan and I will be staying around for a little bit longer. Stefan wants to live as normal a life as possible, thus why he was eating Elena's face off earlier, and I… Well, I don't have anything better to do than hang around and annoy you." Dana jokingly added on, causing Veronica to softly scoff in response. She was glad that Damon was under control, and hopefully he would stay that way. She couldn't stand the thought that he might hurt someone else that she cared about.

"Well, I suppose that's a good thing." Veronica commented, as she awkwardly held out the sponge to the Salvatore girl, a gesture that was meant to inform her that if she wanted to help out, then she could do. Dana took hold of the sponge, giving her a small smile in response, as she began to clean the front of the car. As Veronica went to grab another sponge from the bucket, a voice reached her ears.

"Glad to see that they choose the right girls to do this job." A male voice commented, causing the Bennett girl to tense slightly, not liking the slight purr that was contained within the man's voice. She straightened herself up, as she turned back to face the man, not recognising him in the slightest. "Well, it's good to see that the face matches the body. Hello beautiful." The man spoke in what was clearly meant to be a seductive tone, causing the Bennett girl to tense completely, feeling ridiculously uncomfortable. She wasn't used to people attempting to flirt with her, and based off the way that the guy's eyes were studying her body in an almost predatory nature, it was clear that he wasn't planning on getting to know her as a person. As the girl attempted to get her voice back, the man's hand went to touch her waist, and before Veronica had a chance to protest what he was doing, the man was abruptly pinned against a nearby dark blue car by Dana, her arm coming up to press against his throat in a similar manner to how she had attacked Tyler. "What the hell, lady?!" He snapped angrily, as Dana continued to effortlessly hold him up against the car, her vampire strength clearly enabling her to do so.

"When a woman clearly doesn't want your attention, and is made uncomfortable by your presence, leave her alone. It's not hard to understand!" Dana spat angrily at the man, her calm blue eyes filling with an anger that Veronica had never really seen on the vampire's expression before. As a series of faint lines that looked almost like veins began to appear on Dana's face, just underneath her eyes, Veronica decided to intervene, her legs finally being able to move. She lightly placed a hand on the Salvatore's shoulder, as she softly spoke,

"Dana. Your eyes." The Salvatore girl looked back at Veronica, the Bennett girl tensing once more as she saw the slight fangs that were poking out from the girl's mouth, her darkened and cold eyes, seeing the veins that were now very prominent underneath her eyes. Dana took a moment to softly exhale, her face gradually returning to normal as the man attempted to catch his breath.

"Wow. Where did this school get _you_ from, you weird girl?" The man questioned, causing Dana's eyes to fill with annoyance once more as her hands clenched into fists. Before Veronica had a chance to intervene once more, Dana spun around and violently hit the man in the face, causing him to stumble down to the ground.

"I'm from Chicago." Dana responded, as she proceeded to press her foot over the man's throat, her violent actions now beginning to earn her a crowd. "And you'll regret saying that."

"Dana!" Veronica spoke, as she attempted to pull Dana back by lightly tugging on her arm. "Dana, everyone is looking at you!" Dana looked back at the Bennett girl, apparently soon realising that she was right as she gave a small shrug of her shoulders. "You'll kill him. Please, let him go." Veronica begged the girl, now realising that this was exactly why she had decided to stay away from Dana in the first place. She was dangerous, just like Damon was. Upon hearing the girl's pleading tone, Dana sighed, and proceeded to remove her foot from applying pressure to the man's throat, as the man shakily got onto his feet.

"Next time, respect women, OK?" Dana asked, as the man proceeded to get into his car, clearly still very shaken up from what Dana had done, as the Salvatore girl looked around at the crowd that had gathered to see her fight with the man. "What are you all looking at?" She asked, causing the crowd to almost immediately disperse, clearly not wanting to mess with the girl. Dana's eyes soon settled on Veronica, her head tilting slightly when she saw the expression that was held on the girl's face. "What?" Veronica sighed to herself, her brown eyes looking up at her.

"Dana, this is exactly why I told you to leave me alone." Veronica spoke softly, wrapping her arms around herself. "I keep giving you chances, and all you do is hurt people. I keep trying to see some good in you, just like I do with Damon, but yet you keep giving me reasons to stay away from you." The Bennett girl replied, as she took a moment to lightly bite down on her lower lip. "I want to be your friend, Dana, I really do. You seem like a funny girl, but you're also violent. I get that you're a vampire and that it comes with the territory, but I need to deal with the issues of my lifelong friends before I go delving into supernatural issues. I give you my word that I won't tell anyone what you, or Stefan or Damon are, I promise. But please, until I've sorted out my own issues, I don't need more stress. I'm sorry, Dana." Dana shrugged her shoulders in response to the Bennett girl's words, her blue eyes finally returning to their usual cold state.

"It's fine. I've got an eternity. I'll wait." Dana responded, a small smile pulling at her lips as she lightly placed her hand on Veronica's arm, causing the cold sensation to run through the girl once more. "You're an honourable girl, Ronnie. I get it. I'll see you around." Veronica couldn't ignore the feeling of pure guilt that ran through her veins as she nodded softly in response to Dana's words, feeling as though she had hurt the girl. That hadn't been her aim in the slightest. She didn't want to upset anyone, but she guessed that Bonnie would probably argue that staying away from Dana and her violent ways were for the best.

That didn't make it any easier though.

 **AN: And I'm going to end it there! Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed! This was a slightly shorter chapter than the last one, so I hope you liked it, and I tried to include more original content, drama and character development, so hopefully that was okay! I'm aware that not much has happened in this story so far, so I'm trying to add some drama and make things more interesting for you! Hopefully you were interested during at least one part of this chapter! Anyway, please leave me a review to let me know what you thought of this chapter, it would mean a lot to me and I'll see you again on Friday for the next update!**


	15. Chapter 14: Twins Bonded

**AN: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, any of the characters or the plot, that belongs to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. I solely own Dana and Veronica. All rights go to their original owners.**

Veronica wrapped her arms around herself in a slightly awkward manner as she stood with Bonnie significantly later on that day, recounting the story of what Dana had gotten up to, finding herself need some form of reassurance that she had made the right choice in asking her for some sort of space until she had gotten her own issues sorted out. As she brought her story to a close, Bonnie gave her a small smile as she lightly placed her hand on her sister's upper arm. "You did the right thing, you know." Bonnie reassured her, apparently catching on to the worry that the girl had about what she had done.

"Are you sure? I feel really bad. It's not as if Dana has many other friends." Veronica questioned softly, as she had only seen the girl interact with Damon, Stefan and Caroline, and she didn't seem to get on with any of them. Bonnie nodded softly in response, opening her mouth to speak before the pair were approached by Tiki.

"Sweeper duty." The girl demanded, holding out one of the brushes in her hands to Bonnie with a small smirk pulling at her lips, as Bonnie looked incredibly confused by the words of the girl.

"What?" Bonnie questioned, her head tilting slightly as Tiki proceeded to roll her eyes and pushed the brushes that she held into Bonnie and Veronica's arms, with Veronica studying it for a few moments, confused as to why they needed to clean the pavement.

"We have to clean the pavement." Tiki responded as if it were obvious, causing Veronica to shoot her a small look of bemusement.

"That doesn't make any sense. Surely, as we've been cleaning the cars, the clear water that we've been using would have cleaned the pavement." Veronica argued her point, causing Bonnie to nod in agreement, as Tiki softly scoffed as if the argument was ridiculous.

"But it's not dry." Tiki responded, causing Veronica to softly sigh, biting back her argument about how the sun would cause the water to evaporate in a matter of hours as she placed her brush down, getting ready to begin sweeping. She guessed that protesting wouldn't do anything. She had chosen her and Bonnie to do this job, and that was what was going to happen. Tiki seemed to be a rather stubborn girl.

"And you've chosen us to do this... Why?" Bonnie inquired, clearly not wanting to be the one who swept the floor, the differences between the two siblings never more evident than they had been in that moment.

"Caroline bailed, so that leaves me in charge." Tiki responded, causing Bonnie to sigh, and look silently up at the woman before her. Tiki's smile grew at the silence of the Bennett girl, as she proceeded to comment, "Fabulous," before she headed off to deal with someone else who presumably wasn't doing exactly what she wanted. Once the woman had disappeared from sight, Veronica returned her attention to Bonnie, seeing how unimpressed her sister was with the idea of having to clean the pavement, causing her to lightly nudge her sister and smile at her.

"Come on, Bon. We can be like Cinderella." She jokingly commented, trying her hardest to cheer both herself and her sister up as she began to try and sweep up the water as best as she could do, before a large burst of flames proceeded to appear before her, causing her to jump back in fear. The warmth of the fire almost immediately hit her, causing her to know that she had to get herself and Bonnie away from the fire before it spread, as she almost immediately took hold of her sister's arm. "Bonnie!" She called, noticing the almost trance-like state that her sister appeared to be in, her eyes fixated solely on the flames. The action was strange to say the least, as Veronica followed her sister's eyes to see that the fire appeared to be coming from the excess water on the ground, as it began to grow, engulfing a nearby blue car in flames. As Veronica stood there, her rather confused brain began to slowly come to a conclusion about what was happening.

Bonnie was causing this.

Both Dana and her Grams had constantly gone on about how the pair had magic powers, that was the only logical conclusion that explained where the fire had come from and why it was following the water. Veronica's brown eyes focussed on the flames for a few moments, trying her hardest to focus on using the magic that she supposedly had to try and put out the flames. Apparently, it was partially working, evidenced by the fact the flames would every so often recede, only for them to return to their former intensity mere moments later, proving that Bonnie's abilities were slightly stronger than Veronica's. She supposed that made sense, seeing as Bonnie was the older sibling, even if it was only be five minutes.

Snapping herself out of her thoughts, the younger girl went to try and attempt to bring her sister out of her trance, hoping that would end the fire that was still burning furiously a short distance ahead of them. However, before she could do anything, Stefan appeared out of nowhere and took hold of Bonnie's other arm. "Bonnie! Bonnie! Bonnie!" Stefan repeated the girl's name loudly as he shook her, Veronica's brown eyes looked up at the vampire, a sigh of relief falling from her lips as Bonnie shortly afterwards came out of her trance, the flames almost immediately disappearing just as quickly as they had appeared. As Bonnie looked up at Stefan in confusion, Veronica wrapped her arms around her sister loosely, just relieved that someone had been able to bring Bonnie back before anything too bad had happened. As Veronica pulled away from her, Bonnie looked at her in pure confusion, before her eyes apparently caught sight of the ruined car that was a short distance ahead of her, causing her eyes to widen in slight fear.

"W-What just happened?" Bonnie shakily questioned, her eyes begin to flick between Stefan and Veronica nervously, clearly very confused and slightly scared about what had happened whilst she had been out.

"It's alright, Bon, it's over now." Veronica spoke, attempting to reassure her sister as best as she could, despite the fact that she herself was still feeling slightly unnerved by what had just happened. Apparently, she and her sister did really have some form of magical abilities, which was a crazy concept to even think about.

"You were in some kind of a trance." Stefan added on, a serious look on his expression. Bonnie looked back at him, the horror of his implication soon hitting her.

"Did I do this?" Bonnie asked with a clear tremble in her tone, as she looked at the remnants of the fire once more, causing Veronica to lightly place a hand on her shoulder.

"I think so, yeah." Stefan responded, causing Bonnie to lightly cover her mouth and drop the brush on the floor, panic clearly running through her in that moment.

"You didn't hurt anyone, Bon, it's alright." Veronica spoke softly, as Bonnie nodded softly in response, clearly feeling very relieved that she hadn't managed to hurt anyone else with her fire.

"Nobody else saw, did they? Don't tell anybody. Please." Bonnie begged the two by her sides, as Veronica and Stefan nodded in response, Veronica placing her arm around her sister's shoulders in a comforting manner.

"Come on, let's go and talk to Grams. She'll know what to do." Veronica reassured her sister, giving her a small smile, before her eyes looked up at Stefan. "Thank you for your help, Stefan." She thanked the vampire, giving him a simple smile of gratitude, as he simply nodded in response. Veronica then began to direct her sister through the car parking lot, relieved that nearly everyone seemed to have calmed down from the fire and was now focussing on tidying up after the car wash, as she led Bonnie to her car. The girl proceeded to unlock her car, pulling open the passenger door soon afterwards and gestured for Bonnie to get in. Once her sister had done so, Veronica closed the door and walked around to the driver's side, soon getting in and starting the engine.

The car drive to their grandmother's was short and silent, with neither of the two Bennett witches being entirely sure what they should say. The younger girl lightly tapped out a rhythm on the steering wheel as she drove, with it not taking long before she was able to pull up outside her grandmother's house. As she muted the engine, Veronica's brown eyes looked over at her sister for a few moments, before she proceeded to grab her jacket from the back seat, pulling it on as she got out of the car. Once Bonnie had gotten out of the car, Veronica locked it and slid her hands and keys into her pockets as she slowly followed Bonnie up to the front door, watching from a distance as Bonnie knocked on the door with a slight air of desperation behind her motions. The younger sibling bit down on her lower lip so harshly that it almost bled as she hoped that her grandmother would know something that would be able to help and reassure her elder sister, a small sigh of relief falling from her lips as her grandmother finally pulled open the door.

"I don't know what's happening to me." Bonnie admitted, her voice shaking as Veronica soon realised that her sister was crying, her expression almost immediately softening as her brown eyes went to look at her grandmother.

"I know, dear." Their grandmother reassured Bonnie, as Bonnie took a few steps forwards, their grandmother almost immediately wrapping an arm around her as she came inside, gesturing for Bonnie to sit on the couch as her eyes looked at Veronica, giving her a kind smile. "Thank you for bringing her, Veronica. Do you want to come in?" Veronica allowed a small exhale of breath to fall from her lips in response to her grandmother's words, as she considered the options for a few moments. She knew that Bonnie might need support adjusting to the news that they were witches, but at the same time, she wasn't sure what help she could be.

Regardless, her desire to make sure that her sister was alright caused her to softly nod, as she proceeded to step inside of the house. The young witch briefly looked over her shoulder for a few moments, causing her to soon catch sight of Dana stood across the street, her hands placed into the pockets of her leather jacket. As Veronica's brown eyes met the bright blue ones of the girl across the street, she gave her a small polite smile and wave, a gesture which the vampire girl returned before Dana proceeded to head off into the dark Mystic Falls night. Her grandmother then proceeded to close the door, preventing her from seeing the vampire girl anymore. Sighing to herself, Veronica forced herself to banish all thoughts of Dana away from her mind, as she made herself focus on Bonnie, knowing that when her grandmother told her about their magic as she had done with Veronica, she would need a lot of support.

Bonnie's entire world was about to change, and Veronica was willing to do whatever she could do to help her sister through it.

 **AN: And I'm going to end it there! Thank you very much for reading, I hope you enjoyed! I know that this chapter was much shorter than other ones earlier in the story, but I hope that you liked it anyway! I would just like to take this moment to thank everyone who has commented, followed or favourited this story, I'm so glad that people are actually enjoying this story! For those who are really looking forward to Ric arriving, we now only have four chapters remaining until he arrives! So, I hope you're all looking forward to that! Anyway, please leave me a review to let me know what you thought of this chapter, and I will see you on Monday for the next update!**


	16. Chapter 15: Deeper Into The Rabbit Hole

**AN: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, any of the characters or the plot, that belongs to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. I solely own Dana and Veronica. All rights go to their original owners.**

Veronica allowed a small sigh to fall from her lips as she slowly awoke that morning, her brown eyes slowly adjusting to the light that shone through the small gap in the curtains. The Bennett girl gradually sat up, lightly raking a hand through her messy brown hair as she allowed herself to fully adjust to the morning and consider the events of the past weekend. Her, Bonnie and her grandmother had spent the entire weekend together, talking about the history of witchcraft, how magic worked, and everything else, short of actually practicing magic. Apparently, their grandmother didn't think that they were quite ready for that level yet, which Veronica supposed was fair enough. She wasn't all that willing to lose herself in the world of magic if she were truly honest, whilst Bonnie had been ready to perform spells the mere moment that the news had sunk in.

Eventually, the young Bennett girl came out of her musing and clambered out of bed, almost immediately producing her closet so that she could get dressed. She pulled out a casual pair of jeans and a long sleeved blue shirt, with it not taking her long to get completely ready for the school day ahead of her. After brushing her hair in an attempt to tame it, the young woman headed downstairs, not surprised in the slightest to discover that Bonnie and her grandmother were already up and dressed. "Good morning." She greeted the pair softly, as she proceeded to slump down on the couch beside Bonnie, holding her satchel bag in her grasp.

"Hey." Bonnie responded softly, giving her sister a small smile, before her eyes returned to focusing on their grandmother who seemed to be going through some drawers in the nearby cabinet. "So, was our family burned in the witch trials?" The slightly elder Bennett sibling asked, not surprising Veronica in the slightest. Her sister had been asking questions about their family history all weekend.

"No, the girls that were persecuted in Salem were entirely innocent. You have to have more than ignorance to trap a real witch." Their grandmother responded simply as she stopped rummaging through the drawers, her eyes looking over at the two young women on the couch as she gave Veronica a gentle smile.

"Wow." Veronica commented softly at the mention of the witch trials, as she lightly brushed some of her hair away from her face. "It's not a nice thought to have, thinking that all of those people who died were innocent." She added on, as her grandmother softly nodded in response to her words, as she apparently shared her sentiment.

"So then how did we end up in Mystic Falls?" Bonnie inquired curiously, as Veronica draped her bag over her shoulder in a slightly casual manner, her eyes looking up to her grandmother. She couldn't deny that she found the history of witches to be a rather interesting subject and she liked learning about it, even though it was ridiculously early in the morning and most would consider it far too early to be talking about death and persecution, but she supposed that nothing in her life really made any sense or was logical any more.

"Our family fled Salem in 1692 and relocated here. Our ancestors lived in secrecy for over a hundred years. It's important that we still do." Their grandmother answered, causing Veronica to lightly bite down on her lower lip at the mention of making sure that what they did remained a secret. Stefan and Dana knew for definite that both of the Bennett twins were witches, and Caroline and Elena were vaguely aware of the fact, even though they were both convinced that it was all just one massive joke. She decided not to make her grandmother aware of the fact that two of the mysterious Salvatores knew for definite what they were, as she probably wouldn't approve and would just tell the girls to stay away from the two, which was something that Veronica was already attempting to do.

"Grams, everybody knows you're a witch." Bonnie pointed out, which was true. It was a well-known fact within this town that her grandmother referred to herself as a witch, and always had been.

"They also know it's absurd, can't be true. I'm just a kooky lady that teaches occult at the university. No one really believes. They just poke fun. And let them." Their grandmother responded, as she proceeded to sit down on the arm of the couch, her eyes seemingly fixating on Veronica as she added on, "Don't let them know the truth." Veronica opened her mouth to go to speak, and comment on what she should do if someone already knew the truth about what she was, but before she got a chance to do so, Bonnie cut her off.

"Where's the witchcraft? I mean, you've been talking history for 2 days. I wanna get to the fun part." The elder sibling asked, a smile pulling at her lips and a slight look of mischief held within her eyes as she looked at their grandmother, causing the elderly woman to sigh and playfully roll her eyes in response.

"It's not meant to be fun. It's real and it's serious, and you must understand it before you practice it." Their grandmother commented in a very serious tone, causing Bonnie to sigh in response, looking down at her lap as their grandmother proceeded to add on, "Aren't you two gonna be late for school?" Veronica looked down at the watch that she was wearing on her wrist to confirm the time, as she soon rose to her feet, lightly giving her grandmother a small hug as she did so. The elderly lady gently returned the gesture, as Veronica gave her a gentle smile upon pulling away.

"Thank you for an… interesting weekend, Grams." She commented as Bonnie proceeded to get up and go to get her school bag from the kitchen.

"You're very welcome, dear." Her grandmother responded with a small and simple smile. "I'm just relieved that you two are finally accepting what you are. Although, may I just impart a bit of advice to you, Veronica?" Veronica nodded almost automatically in response to her grandmother's words, a slight look of confusion soon forming on her expression as she wondered what it was that the elder woman wanted to tell her. "That girl from across the street on Friday night, that was the girl you were telling me about, wasn't it? The Salvatore girl who gave you the book?" Once again, Veronica nodded in confirmation, as it had indeed been Dana that she had seen across the street. "Please, just for my nerves more than anything, stay away from her. I get the feeling that she will be trouble for you." Veronica's expression softened at her grandmother's words, as her brown eyes looked over at Bonnie who was now stood by the front door, clearly ready to go to school.

"I promise, Grams." Veronica responded, giving the woman another small smile, before she proceeded to move away from her grandmother and approach her sister, with the pair soon heading out of the door and embracing the day before them.

* * *

With her grandmother's warning about staying away from Dana echoing through her mind, Veronica walked down the hallway with Bonnie to her sister's locker, with the pair once again talking about the rather peculiar events from last Friday. "I mean, I just don't get why she thought what she did was alright. She could have killed that guy." Bonnie commented as she began to unlock her locker, with Veronica giving a small and silent nod in response, knowing that Dana couldn't help her anger issues. It was just who she was, it came with being a vampire.

"I guess that she just thought she was protecting me." Veronica responded in Dana's defence, causing Bonnie to scoff, just as the group of two were approached by Caroline, with the blonde girl holding two massive shopping bags in her hands. Veronica looked at her in pure confusion, as she noticed the bright smile and look of pride that was evident in Caroline's eyes.

"I've got your costumes! They're all here!" Caroline exclaimed cheerfully, pushing one of the bags into Veronica's hands, and the other to Bonnie. In slight nervousness, the young woman proceeded to open the bag and pull out the first thing that she got her hands on, which were a pair of black cat ears.

"Well." Veronica commented, as she studied the ears for a few moments. "Thank you, Care." She responded politely, although she wasn't too sure how she felt about this. Knowing Caroline, this wouldn't just be a cat costume, it'd be sexualised in some way, seeing as the blonde girl seemed to be convinced that by forcing the young and slightly awkward Bennett girl into sexualised outfits, it would somehow bring up her confidence. That wasn't quite how it worked. It just made the girl feel more awkward about herself, but she was far too polite to even consider mentioning that to Caroline.

"You're welcome, Ronnie! I thought it would suit you." Caroline exclaimed, her smile growing as the Bennett girl lightly placed her cat ears back into the shopping bag, just as she heard Bonnie comment in a disapproving manner,

"Seriously?" Veronica looked over at her sister in slight confusion as she spoke, soon seeing the outfit that Bonnie was holding within her hands, soon recognising the pointy hat that her sister was holding onto to be a stereotypical witch's hat. Caroline rolled her eyes in response to the doubtful nature of the Bennett girl, as she soon proceeded to slump against the locker in a casual manner.

"Come on. Can someone please be excited that it's Halloween?" Caroline exclaimed, causing Veronica to lightly bite down on her lower lip, feeling slightly sorry for the girl. It was just with everything else that had been going on in her life lately, she'd had little no interest in Halloween. Not that she'd ever really enjoyed the many parties that Caroline had forced her and her sister to go to around Halloween on an annual basis, but at least before, she could pretend that she was having fun and get away with it. "I just wanna have fun, you know." Caroline added, as Bonnie continued to rummage through the bag that Caroline had given her. "Just some silly… fluffy… Damon free fun." Veronica tensed slightly at the mention of the Salvatore brother that she had hoped had been gone for good, hoping that he wouldn't decide to make an appearance at the party.

"Hey, isn't this the one you got from Damon?" Bonnie's voice inquired, causing the young Bennett girl to look over at Bonnie once more, seeing that she was holding up a large amber pendant that was clearly worn with age, Veronica's head tilting slightly as she studied it. Why did Damon have something like this? He didn't seem like the type of person to collect historical antiques, even if he was a vampire.

"Yep. Wear it. Toss it. I don't care. I just want it gone." Caroline replied, as Veronica delicately took hold of the pendant, lightly running her fingertips across the smooth amber stone for a few moments.

"This is really cool." Veronica spoke softly, her weird interest in history and antiques coming through in the way that she spoke, causing Caroline to let out a scoff in response.

"Of course you would like it. I say this with all the kindness in the world, Ronnie, but you're a bit of a history nerd." Caroline responded, causing Veronica to give a small shrug of her shoulders, handing back the pendant to her sister, who soon placed it back in the bag with the other parts of her witch outfit. "Hey, have you seen Elena? Do we know what she's wearing?" Caroline asked, looking more at Bonnie this time, as the elder girl gave a small shrug of her shoulders in response.

"We've been with Grams all weekend. I haven't talked to her." Bonnie replied, looking over in Veronica's direction, as her sister gave a small nod in response, confirming that she too had not seen Elena since the car wash. "Maybe she's with Stefan." Bonnie suggested soon afterwards, causing Caroline to softly roll her eyes in response.

"Riding to his castle on his white horse." Caroline stated simply in a bitter tone, as Veronica awkwardly scuffed her shoes on the floor of the hallway, not entirely sure what else she should say in response to her words as her brain wasn't too certain on what she could give as reassurance that Caroline would one day find someone who didn't just use her and treat her like dirt. She was certain that one day Caroline would find someone who would treat her right.

"Don't be bitter. It provokes wrinkles." Bonnie responded, causing Caroline to softly laugh, forcing herself to stand upright once more before her eyes apparently caught sight of something at the far end of the hallway that caused her to softly smile.

"Oh, look, Ronnie. It's your friend." Caroline commented, gesturing with her head, causing the Bennett girl to look over her shoulder. She wasn't surprised in the slightest to see Dana stood at the end of the hallway with one headphone in her ear, her eyes fixating on the phone in her grasp. "Wonder what she'll be for Halloween. I mean, she's scary enough as it is." Caroline commented in a slightly joking tone, causing the young Bennett girl to softly sigh.

"Don't be mean, Care." Veronica told the girl softly, her brown eyes studying the girl at the far end of the hallway, noticing the small smug smile that soon pulled at the lips of the vampire almost as soon as Veronica had spoken. That caused her head to tilt slightly, before she realised that Dana could probably hear them. It wouldn't surprise her if she could. Everything about Dana seemed to be enhanced, from her sarcasm, to her anger, her senses were probably enhanced too. The Bennett girl was brought out of her thoughts when the loud sound of the bell ringing reached her ears, causing her to look up at Caroline. "Come on, let's go." Veronica spoke, causing Caroline to smirk softly, soon turning on her heel as she headed off towards their next class. Bonnie followed after her, with Veronica taking a moment to look back at Dana for a few moments. She shot her a small kind smile before she quickly walked off to catch up with the ever energetic Caroline, the feeling of guilt about leaving the girl with no friends by herself once again coursing through her veins.

As she walked, the young woman made herself focus on the promise that she had made her grandmother earlier that morning. She needed to stay away from Dana, and stop allowing her feelings to overrule her common sense. That was by far the safest option here.

 **AN: And I'm going to end it there! Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed! We now only have 3 chapters until Alaric arrives, if anyone was curious, so the chapter that I post a week on Friday will be the first one with him in it! Anyway, please let me know what you thought of this chapter, or just anything in general and I'll see you in the next update on Friday!**


	17. Chapter 16: A Night You'll Never Forget

**AN: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, any of the characters or the plot, that belongs to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. I solely own Dana and Veronica. All rights go to their original owners.**

Veronica timidly and awkwardly wrapped her arms around herself as she stood by Bonnie and Caroline's side, feeling rather uncomfortable in the revealing black outfit, cat ears and drawn on whiskers that Caroline had given her, whilst both Caroline and Bonnie looked virtually perfect in their witches outfits. "I feel like an idiot." Veronica mumbled softly and in a slightly awkward tone, knowing that Bonnie would be the only one able to hear her. Her sister shot her a small look of sympathy, as she apparently had heard her words before her attention was pulled away by Tyler approaching them, dressed as what Veronica assumed was meant to be some kind of Roman soldier although it looked more like he was walking around shirtless with a red cape on. As the male got closer, the girl noticed the glasses that were held in his hands and the slight smirk that was worn on his expression, feeling a sensation of slight worry run through her as Tyler came to a stop slightly in front of the three girls.

"Cider for the ladies. It's a Lockwood special." Tyler commented, offering out the glasses that he had in his hands to the group of three, with Veronica almost immediately shaking her head.

"I'm alright. Thank you for the offer, Tyler." The Bennett girl responded politely, causing Tyler to softly nod, his eyes soon turning to Caroline and Bonnie.

"No way. Last year I was hung over until Thanksgiving." Bonnie denied his offer, adding on a small shake of her head, as Caroline proceeded to simply roll her eyes in response, snatching one of the glasses away from Tyler and taking a small sip soon afterwards.

"Lightweights." Caroline teased the two Bennett siblings, causing Veronica to roll her eyes simply in response, more than used to Caroline's teasing comments about her relatively simple lifestyle choices after putting up with several years of it. "I am going to drink until someone is hot enough to make out with." Caroline stated as she took a swig from the glass in her hands, causing Tyler to raise his eyebrows slightly.

"Sounds like a plan." The boy agreed with a slight arrogance held behind his tone, causing Veronica to softly sigh. "And Bennett will stand around judge us silently." Tyler added on jokingly, causing Veronica to softly scoff, her brown eyes looking around for a few moments, before she felt someone lightly tug on her arm, rather surprised to see that Dana was pulling on her arm.

"Come with me." Dana insisted, causing Veronica to raise an eyebrow, but not question the girl's words as she began to hesitantly head off with her as she presumed that the vampire had something important to say.

"If you don't come back in half an hour, I'll call the cops!" Caroline called after the pair, causing Dana to shoot a small glare over in the blonde's direction, as Veronica soon realised what she was wearing. It was a knee length, very decorative white flapper dress, which was very old fashioned in its design, vaguely reminding the witch of the 1920's or 30's. The skirt of the dress was patterned with dried black-red splatter, something that the girl soon realised was blood, causing her to tense slightly.

"Did you… Have you kill someone tonight?" Veronica asked, even though she could guess from the colour of the blood that it wasn't fresh. She just had to make sure. Dana looked back at the Bennett girl as she led her away from her group of friends, seeming slightly offended that the girl even had to ask.

"No. I was…. I wore this dress on the night I turned, in 1922. The blood is the blood of a man that I didn't like very much so I killed him. Anyway, you're dressed as a cat, you don't get to judge me for my fashion choices." Dana admitted, causing the Bennett witch to raise an eyebrow slightly, her brown eyes looking over at her in slight confusion. "Before you ask, trust me, he deserved it." She justified her actions, a small sigh soon falling from her lips.

"What did he do?" Veronica asked softly, incredibly curious about what had happened, the question causing Dana to lightly bite down on her lower lip.

"It doesn't matter." Dana insisted. "I'll tell you at some point, but not tonight. I don't feel like delving into those memories tonight. I'm nowhere near drunk enough to give you the sob story. And anyway, there's something else that I need to talk to you about that's far more important." Veronica's head tilted slightly as the girl spoke, waiting for her to carry on. "You know Vicki Donovan?" Dana asked, the mention of the girl that Jeremy was still pining over confusing Veronica slightly.

"Yes. I know her. Please tell me she hadn't gone on the run again." Veronica spoke, knowing that if the girl went missing again like she had done so many times in the past, Jeremy might not be able to handle it. No matter how dysfunctional and insane the girl was, Jeremy seemed to truly care for her.

"No, that's not it. Damon turned her." Dana responded, causing Veronica's eyes to widen and pure shock to run through her. Vicki Donovan, the girl that she had known for years…. Was a vampire now? Surely it wasn't possible? It was crazy. Why was this happening now? Why had everything in her life gone to complete hell in a matter of weeks? A short while ago, all she had to worry about was helping Elena through her grief, and now she had to cope with vampires, witches and god knows what other supernatural creatures were lurking around. She didn't want this. She wanted to go back to her state of innocence, but her curiosity had gotten her this far, there was no way that she could back out now. "Again, Stefan, who seems to always be in control lately claims he has it under control. But shock horror, she's gone missing. So, if you see her around, text Elena, or me. Do you have my number?" Dana asked, as Veronica softly shook her head, as she reached her hand into her pocket and soon produced her phone, holding it out to the Salvatore girl. It didn't take Dana long to presumably input her number, handing the phone back to the Bennett girl.

"Can I ask you a question?" Veronica asked, although knowing Dana, she probably wouldn't end up getting any straight answers to her questions. As Dana nodded softly in response, Veronica proceeded to ask, "Why do you hate Stefan so much? What did he do to you?" Dana scoffed softly in response to Veronica's question, her blue eyes looking down at the slightly shorter Bennett girl.

"Now that is a very long story. But, to cut it short, let's just say that Stefan hasn't always been the nice, peaceful guy that he pretends to be today. And when I was human, he was… pretty bad, and he did some things that I'm not sure I can ever forgive. Now, before your sister death stares me into oblivion, I think I should probably go." Dana commented softly, causing Veronica to look over in the direction that the girl was gesturing in, seeing the slight glare that Bonnie was shooting in Dana's direction.

"Alright. I hope you find her, and help her. Please, keep Jeremy safe, Vicki's likely to want to go near him as they're really close." Veronica advised the girl, giving her a small parting smile, as she proceeded to turn back onto her heel, making sure not to trip over the tail that Caroline had attached to her outfit, as she soon walked back over to Bonnie, noticing that Tyler and Caroline had headed off.

"What did she want?" Bonnie asked as soon as Veronica reached her. "Thought you were meant to be staying away from her?" Veronica sighed softly at her sister's question, as she wrapped her arms around herself once more.

"Yeah, I'm trying. But… You know what I'm like, I can't never manage to say no to someone. I just can't. I'm not brave enough." Veronica responded honestly, as she had always struggled with managing to have enough strength to say something and risk upsetting someone that she cared about. "Besides, today it was important. Vicki's gone AWOL again." Veronica commented, but before she had a chance to go on any more about what her and Dana had talked about, the pair were interrupted by Damon approaching them, his usual arrogant smirk held on his expression.

"Well, hello there Bennett, and Bennett 2.0." Damon greeted the two girls, causing Bonnie to softly glare at him, and Veronica to hesitantly turn to face the vampire, making sure that she was stood just slightly in front of her sister so that she could protect her if necessary. "So hostile. Where'd Caroline run off to?" The male inquired with a small smirk pulling at his lips, causing Veronica to lightly bite down on her lower lip, not liking the fact that the vampire was asking after the blonde girl. The idea that he wanted to know where she was worried her.

"Do yourself a favor, Damon, and don't ask me about Caroline." Bonnie responded with a hint of aggression behind her tone, as the vampire proceeded to softly chuckle in response to the witch's words, clearly not feeling intimidated by her in the slightest, as Veronica wrapped her arms tightly around herself. If he wasn't intimidated by Bonnie when she was angry, then he certainly wouldn't be afraid of Veronica.

"Oh, Bonnie. So loyal." Damon commented playfully, his blue eyes soon looking down at Veronica. "How about you, Veronica? Are you going to play nice and tell me where Caroline is?" Veronica's brown eyes looked up at the male, as she proceeded to soon shake her head.

"Leave Caroline alone." Veronica stated simply, having to summon up the little amount of courage that she had to stand up to the vampire, but based off the expression on the vampire's expression, Damon wasn't even slightly fazed by the words of the younger Bennett girl. "I mean it, Damon. She doesn't want to see you. Respect that."

"Well, I can tell that someone's been hanging around with Dana a lot." Damon jokingly commented, the small smirk soon pulling at his lips. "Did she tell you why she's so insistent on getting women respected? No? You do shock me, it's an interesting story." As Veronica looked up at the male, trying her hardest to remain stoic and unafraid of what the vampire was saying, Damon apparently caught sight of something out of the corner of his eye that held his attention, causing him to look over at Bonnie soon afterwards. "Where'd you get that?" He asked, gesturing with his fingers to the large amber pendant that Bonnie was wearing around her neck, the gesture causing Bonnie to tense slightly.

"From a friend." Bonnie responded simply with her body now being fully tensed, as Veronica's eyes flicked between the vampire and the witch in slight anxiety, getting ready to intervene if Damon made any attempt to try and get his necklace back.

"Caroline." Damon concluded correctly. "You know that's mine, don't you?"

"Not anymore." Bonnie almost automatically responded, clearly not any more willing to give into the demands of the vampire than Veronica was, the shared stubborn nature of the Bennett twins coming into use for once.

"Funny." Damon stated, although his expression suggested that he found the actions of the two girls to be anything but funny. "I'd like it back, please." He commented, his blue eyes finally looking up from the pendant to look at Bonnie, causing Veronica to shoot a small and slight glare in his direction in an attempt to discourage him from doing anything to force the witch into handing over the pendant that was so important to him for some reason.

"Why do you even want it? It's just a pendant." Veronica asked, not being surprised when Damon scoffed at her words, and didn't dignify her with a response to her question, his attention solely fixated on Bonnie and the large pendant on her neck.

"Veronica, I can handle this." Bonnie insisted, giving her sister a small look that seemed to imply that she didn't want her little sister getting involved with the dealings of the cold Salvatore brother, before Bonnie's attention returned to Damon. "I'm not giving it to you. I'll give it to Caroline, and she can give it to you if she feels like it." Bonnie added on, the slight aggression still evidently held in her tone, causing Damon to playfully roll his eyes in response.

"Or I could just take it right now." The vampire stated, and before either Bonnie or Veronica had chance to do anything, Damon's hand flew up, grasping hold of the pendant, the smirk returning to his lips as he went to pull off the item of jewellery, before the sound of sizzling reached the ears of the younger Bennett witch. A noise of pain fell from Damon's lips as he proceeded to tug back his hand, the large burn on his hand noticeable as anger appeared in Damon's eyes soon afterwards. Bonnie's eyes widened in fear, as Veronica lightly pushed her sister backwards.

"Go." She encouraged her sister, causing her sister to turn on her heel and almost immediately dash off as quickly as her legs could carry her. Veronica took a moment to look at Damon, before also turning on her heel and running after her sister, her lack of perfect fitness and the ridiculous costume that she was wearing causing her to struggle slightly but she refused to allow herself to completely come to a stop nor did she look back.

Her flight or fight response was in overdrive, the adrenaline coursing through her veins being the only thing that was keeping her going, with her hesitantly coming to a stop on her grandmother's porch, relieved to see that Bonnie was also there, completely unharmed. Once Bonnie saw that she had arrived and didn't appear to have been harmed other than the fact that she was ridiculously out of breath, she proceeded to knock on their grandmother's door, soon heading inside as they didn't feel completely safe standing outside anymore. Veronica looked over her shoulder for a few moments, soft pants still coming from her as she was reassured that Damon didn't appear to have followed after them, before she followed her sister inside, shutting the door behind her.

"What happened to you two?" Their grandmother asked as she appeared before them, studying the two girls in slight confusion and worry, Veronica's attempts to level her breathing prevented her from properly answering her grandmother's question, causing her to look at Bonnie and do a gesture with her hands that meant that she wanted Bonnie to answer the question.

"I did something. I don't know. It came from my necklace." Bonnie responded as she gestured to the amber pendant around her neck, as Veronica nodded in confirmation, her breathing somewhat returning to normal.

"B…Burned a man's hand." She spoke in between pants for air, as their grandmother studied the large pendant around Bonnie's neck, her eyes widening slightly in response, a gesture that slightly confused the younger Bennett witch.

"Where'd you get that?" Their grandmother asked, causing a look of confusion to also form on Bonnie's expression as she looked down at the amber stone around her neck.

"It's part of my costume." Bonnie stated as though it was obvious, although after the response of both Damon and their grandmother to the pendant, Veronica was beginning to think differently. Perhaps it wasn't quite as ordinary as it seems? It wouldn't be the most surprising thing to happen lately. "It's a piece of junk." Bonnie added on, causing their grandmother to roll her eyes and head into the living room, an action that confused the twins.

"That 'piece of junk' belonged to one of the most powerful witches of our family. Let me show you." Their grandmother spoke, as she produced a large photograph album from one of the cabinets in the far corner of the room, causing Veronica and Bonnie to approach the elderly woman, feeling very confused about everything that was going on. The woman flicked through the book for a few moments, before she came to a stop on one of the pages. The page contained a black and white photograph of a young woman, dressed in old fashioned clothing. "There she is. Emily Bennett. Your great-great-great-great-grandmother." Their grandmother stated, before she proceeded to point to something in the photograph. "And there's your necklace." She stated, as Veronica looked down at the photograph, her eyes widening slightly as she realised that her grandmother was indeed correct. The necklace around Emily's neck was identical to the one that Bonnie was wearing. It was eerie. But, this discovery only raised a further question.

Why did Damon want a Bennett pendant?

 **AN: And I'm going to end it there, thank you very much for reading. I hope you enjoyed. i just want to take this moment to address some concerns that some of you may have regarding Dana and Veronica's impact on the TVD storyline, seeing as I seem to be quite heavily following it at the current moment. Although this story will largely follow the storyline of the show, I will be changing a good few things as the story develops. Both of my OC's will develop as characters, Dana will become less heartless and Veronica will become more involved in everything and become a stronger character as the story develops. I've worked very hard on developing this two OCs and their storylines, so I promise that you will see that development as we get further into the story. At the current moment, I am just attempting to help you get used to Dana and Veronica, what their personalities are like and stuff like that so that you can become emotionally attached to them and care about their development later on! I just figured that I'd address that, in case anyone was curious. I will be changing things, so I would appreciate it if you just stuck with me for the moment, because it'll hopefully be worth it in the long run! Anyway, if you wouldn't mind letting me know what you thought of this chapter or just anything in general, and I'll see you on Monday for the next one!**


	18. Chapter 17: Another Day, Another Problem

**AN: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, any of the characters or the plot, that belongs to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. I solely own Dana and Veronica. All rights go to their original owners.**

Veronica softly sighed to herself, as she slowly approached the window of her bedroom at her grandmother's house, the faint sound of her grandmother talking to Bonnie in the next room reaching her ears distantly. Although the young woman wasn't focussing on eavesdropping the conversation particularly. She'd always been taught that it was rude to do so. Besides, her attention was soon held by something else, as there was a series of soft taps on the window, causing a look of slight confusion to form on her face as she couldn't figure out where the taps were coming from. The young woman proceeded to open up her window in an attempt to figure out where the noise was coming from, her eyes soon catching sight of Dana stood in the front garden, her blue eyes looking up at the Bennett girl as Veronica's head tilted slightly. "Your favourite neighbourhood stalker here!" Dana proclaimed, placing her hands up for a few moments, causing Veronica to softly sigh and rest her forehead against the window frame.

"What do you want, Dana?" She asked, making sure to keep her voice soft to prevent her grandmother overhearing as she had promised that she would try and avoid the girl as best as she possibly could.

"I'm bored. Stefan has a friend called Lexi over who hates me, and Damon's being Damon, so I figured that I'd come and bother you." Dana replied, giving a small shrug of her shoulders, as she proceeded to delve her hand into her pocket, soon holding up something small and white that Veronica soon realised was a candle. "And I brought a gift. Is that good enough?" Veronica rolled her eyes playfully at the girl's actions, as she lightly raised her hand, deciding to show the vampire one of the very basic spells that her grandmother had taught her, as the candle that the vampire was holding onto became alight with a gentle flame.

Dana's eyes looked at the soft orange flame, as a soft laugh fell from her lips. It was a genuine laugh, one of true happiness, and she soon realised that it was perhaps the closest that she had ever gotten to seeing the real Dana. The girl that had lived a human life before being turned, the girl who had long since been buried by Dana herself, for reasons that Veronica didn't quite understand. Dana's eyes pulled away from the flame, looking up at the witch once more, a bright smile pulling at her lips. "Do you believe me now, Sabrina?" She teased the girl, causing Veronica to softly laugh, giving a small shrug of her shoulders.

"Alright. Maybe I don't think you're completely insane. You're still weird though." Veronica replied in a slightly joking tone. "I mean, if you want friends, that's okay. You just have to stop stalking me and tell me something about yourself. Something about the real you. Not the sarcastic vampire, but the real girl behind the charade." Dana went to reply to the girl's comment, before the sound of Veronica's grandmother calling out for her caused Veronica to tense, almost immediately turning on her heel and slamming the window shut as she turned to face her grandmother as she entered the room. She just hoped that Dana, with her advanced hearing would have been able to figure out what was going on.

"Veronica, are you ready to go?" Her grandmother asked. "We don't want your father to think I'm holding you hostage and filling your head with witchy nonsense." Veronica nodded in response to her grandmother's words, taking a brief look back out the window, not surprised in the slightest to see that Dana had already dashed off and disappeared from sight. The young Bennett witch pulled on her black jacket, picking up her rucksack that contained her stuff and her school bag, as she headed towards the door, not really feeling like heading home at that moment in time. She was only just beginning to learn about her powers, she wanted to stay with her grandmother and learn more to make sure that she wouldn't risk hurting someone if she lost control of her magic. But, her father had never believed in anything that their grandmother had said, and didn't seem to like the influence that the elder woman had on her and Bonnie, and thus apparently wanted them home before they spent too much time with her.

Veronica was brought out of her thoughts by her grandmother lightly placed a hand on her arm, causing Veronica to look up at the elderly woman. "Do you still have that spell book that the Salvatore girl gave you?" She asked, causing Veronica to softly nod in response, as she had taken to storing the book underneath her bed, knowing that neither her dad nor her sister would go under there. Although, neither of them ever really went to her room without her being in there anyway. "Use it. Practice a few of the spells in there and let me know how you get on. Janine would be very happy that her book is finally back in the family." Her grandmother instructed, causing Veronica to softly nod in response, giving her a small smile soon afterwards. She lightly placed her hand over that of the elder woman, with the sound of Bonnie's voice asking what was taking so long causing the witch to lightly step away from her grandmother, heading out of the room.

"Coming, Bon!" She called to her sister as she began to head downstairs, just hoping that she would be able to at the very least master some of the spells in the book. She wanted to make her family proud, and live up to the powerful legacy that her Grams had told her about.

* * *

Veronica allowed a gentle sigh to fall from her lips as she proceeded to cross her arms over her chest, her brown eyes looking around the packed Grill for a few moments. She had been planning on having a nice evening, reading and possibly doing some homework or practising some spells, but instead, she had been forced by Caroline to come here to this party that she had decided to throw just out of the blue and now, she just felt incredibly uncomfortable due to the large crowds triggering her slight claustrophobia. It was rather odd, that much Veronica couldn't deny, that Caroline hadn't decided to mention to anyone before today that she was planning on throwing a party. Her paranoid mind had initially assumed that maybe this had something to do with Damon, now that she was aware of what vampires were able to do. But, surely, Damon wouldn't be trying to compel her again? Besides, what could he even get out of Caroline throwing a party? It wasn't logical.

The young woman was brought out of her thoughts when she became aware of someone approaching her, causing her to look up, rather surprised to see that Jeremy was stood before her. Ever since Vicki had gone missing on the night of the Halloween party, she hadn't seen Jeremy, as she had feared that Vicki's disappearance had something to do with the Salvatores and she didn't want to lie to Jeremy if he were to ask her if she had any idea where Vicki had gone or if she had seen her at all. She'd always hated lying to him. He was her best friend after all. A small smile pulled at the Bennett girl's lips as she proceeded to look up at her friend, rather surprised when for the first time in a while, Jeremy responded with a soft and hesitant smile of his own. "Hey, Jer." She greeted the boy softly, her brown eyes studying him for a few moments, wondering why he had finally decided to come and talk to her.

"Hi, Ronica." Jeremy greeted her softly, using the affectionate nickname that he'd had for her for years that had developed when he'd been unable to pronounce her whole name. "I, um, I just… I wanted to say that I'm sorry for the way I've treated you these past few weeks. I haven't really been myself, I've been high basically all the time, and I… I shouldn't have taken it out on you." The male spoke quietly, causing Veronica's expression to soften slightly, her brown eyes looking up at the boy, as she softly shook her head.

"I understand, Jer, there's no need to apologise." She replied, as she lightly went up on her tiptoes and wrapped her arms around the much taller boy, attempting to give him the little comfort that she could. She rested her head against his shoulder, her breath catching in her throat when the boy proceeded to return the gesture, his own arms wrapping around her waist. "You lost your parents, Jer, it's understandable that you were freaking out." She reassured her best friend, her eyes closing for a short while as she enjoyed the hug, relieved that her best friend seemed to finally be getting better, before she pulled away and her eyes opened up once more. "You know, I've missed absolutely owning you at _Halo_. We'll have to have a gaming session at some point, right? When you're not really busy." She questioned, as she could distinctly remember how much fun she'd had back when her and Jeremy used to just spend entire days playing video games when they were younger. Back when things had been much simpler. A small chuckle fell from Jeremy's lips at her words, as he proceeded to lightly ruffle the dark brown hair of the girl, his own dark brown eyes looking down at her.

"Of course. Although, I seem to remember that it was always me who was beating you and not the other way around." Jeremy teased the girl playfully, a small and slight smirk soon pulling at his lips. Veronica softly rolled her eyes, as she proceeded to lightly push the boy on the shoulder in response to his words.

"Oh, in your dreams, Gilbert." She responded in a joking tone, causing Jeremy to softly laugh in response to her.

"Oh, really? Well, isn't that very competitive, Ronica?" The male asked playfully, and as Veronica went to respond to his words, her brown eyes caught sight of Liz Forbes and a few other police officers entering the Grill in their uniform, the sight causing both her and Jeremy to watch in slight confusion. She couldn't help but wonder what Liz was doing here. Was she here to break up the party? It was a bit much to send the Sheriff and several police officers to break up a small party at the Grill where, as far as Veronica knew, no fights had broken out or anything of that accord, wasn't it? "What's going on?" Jeremy asked softly, his brown eyes looking down at Veronica, as the younger girl gave a small shrug of her shoulders.

"I don't know. But whatever it is, it can't be good." Veronica responded softly, her brown eyes watching as Liz and the officers proceeded to make their way through the crowd, soon approaching Damon and a girl with incredibly long blonde hair that were stood at the bar in the middle of a conversation. Although Veronica didn't recognise the girl, she remembered Dana telling her that morning that Stefan had a friend called Lexi visiting. It was likely that the blonde girl with Damon was probably her. Although her view was slightly obscured by the police officers, she was somewhat able to see Liz approach Lexi and Damon, as Lexi soon proceeded to collapse into Liz's arms almost automatically. Veronica watched the events feeling incredibly confused, her mind going around in circles. Seeing as Lexi was Stefan's friend, it was likely that she was a vampire and that her collapsing was probably a result of vervain being injected into her or something else that would cause a vampire to collapse, but… How the hell did Liz know that? How did Liz know that she was a vampire? How did Liz even know about vampires at all? Was it possible that she wasn't the only one in this town who knew about the existence of vampires? If that was the case, how many other people were aware of their existence? Did they know about the Salvatores?

Veronica had so many questions, and she doubted that she would like the answers to them. As Liz began to carry Lexi out towards the exit of the Grill, Veronica looked up at Jeremy. "I'm gonna go and find out what the hell is happening. Please stay here." Veronica requested of the boy, causing Jeremy to softly nod, as Veronica went to attempt to make her way through the crowd and intervene with whatever it was that Liz thought she was doing, when she felt someone grab hold of her upper arm tightly, pulling her back. "What are you doing, Dana?" Veronica asked, just knowing that it would be the Salvatore girl who had attempted to prevent her from going to help out the blonde girl that Stefan seemed to care about a lot. Dana sighed softly, as her blue eyes looked at Veronica, her superior strength preventing the Bennett girl from even being able to attempt escaping from her grasp.

"Don't intervene." Dana responded softly to the Bennett girl, causing Veronica to become slightly confused. "This is the only way that Liz won't keep digging into the dead people in this town. If she thinks that Lexi did it, she won't investigate, and thus won't find out what I, Damon or Stefan are. If you even like me in the slightest, please, go back to Jeremy." Dana requested her favour, causing the Bennett girl to look back at her.

"Are you just doing this because you hate Stefan? Because I don't know what your issue with him is, but letting his friend die won't fix anything." Veronica asked, her voice much softer than Dana's, her lack of power within the conversation evident, as Dana rolled her eyes in an exasperated manner.

"Fine, seeing as you asked so nicely." Dana spat as Liz continued to struggle to carry Lexi out of the front door. "Stefan is the reason that I'm like this. Stefan _killed_ me. So trust me, I have more than a good enough reason to hate him. But, if you can believe it, just for once, I'm attempting to survive. I'm trying to enable my family, even though they basically all hate me, to survive. And if I have to let Lexi die in order for that to happen, I don't care. So what, Stefan loses a friend if we get to survive? If that makes me selfish, then so be it. I couldn't care less. So, please, Veronica, go back to Jeremy before I have to make you go back to him." Veronica felt her eyes fill with slight surprise at Dana's revelation, feeling rather surprised that Stefan had been the one to turn Dana into a vampire, seeing as Stefan didn't seem to be too happy with his existence and what he was. But, the girl decided that she would just attempt to delve further into the story at a later date, when Dana didn't have the aggressive venom in her eyes.

She hesitantly took a step back, her brown eyes looking up at the girl, as she chose to say nothing in response and soon turned on her heel. She knew that if she were to anger Dana and as a result end up in a fight, she would almost definitely lose. Dana was faster, stronger and more powerful than her, she didn't stand a chance going up against her, even with her magic. Slowly, the young witch returned to Jeremy, her arms wrapped tightly around herself, as she couldn't help but feel incredibly guilty about just allowing Lexi to be dragged off by Liz. She could guess that it would almost definitely lead her to her death, but she wasn't entirely sure what she herself could even do to help her.

"Did you find anything out?" Jeremy asked upon seeing that the girl had returned, as Veronica gave a small and simple shake of her head, absolutely hating the fact that she couldn't tell him the truth about what was going on. Her brown eyes then went to Lexi, merely being able to just watch as the girl was pulled out of the door and into the dark night outside. She caught sight of Stefan and Elena dashing through the crowd, clearly attempting to help find a way to try and save Lexi from the fate that she seemed doomed to have, Veronica's heart quickly sinking within her chest at the sight as pure guilt ran through her veins. In that moment, she found herself almost hating Dana for making her do this, forcing her to just watch Stefan's expression of anguish as he tried his hardest to save his friend. The young Bennett witch lightly took hold of Jeremy's hand, her brown eyes looking up at him as a small sigh fell from her lips.

Just for once, she wished that she could have a normal evening.

 **AN: And I'm going to end it there, thank you very much for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! So, we've now finally found out something about Dana's past! On an unrelated note, I just want to thank you for your support on the last chapter, it means a lot to me that you seem to be liking this story and are actually getting invested in the characters. It might take a while, but I promise that the character development and plot changes will happen! Anyway, please let me know what you thought of this chapter, and I'll see on Friday for the first chapter with Alaric and the beginning of the romance between him and Veronica!**


	19. Chapter 18: The Day It All Changed

**AN: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, any of the characters or the plot, that belongs to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. I solely own Dana and Veronica. All rights go to their original owners. I apologise if you've already seen this chapter and got a bit confused as to why I uploaded it again, there was an error with the website when I tried to post it and it didn't send out a notification to say I had updated, so I figured I'd try again!**

Veronica allowed a small and soft noise of frustration to fall from her lips as she approached her locker, feeling her phone softly vibrate in her pocket, causing her to soon produce it. A small smile pulled at her lips as she saw that the message that she had just received was from Jeremy, asking her if she wanted to meet up after school at the Grill, with the boy claiming that he also wanted her to help him with work. That was something that was a bit of a shock to her, given that Jeremy had never really cared about school work in the past, but she chose not to question it. Instead, she quickly texted back that she would love to meet up before he changed his mind once more, as she placed her phone back into the pocket of her jacket.

The young witch then began to rummage through the books in her locker, deciding which ones she would need for the next few lessons, when she heard Dana's voice beginning to speak to her. "You know, I think that this avoiding me lark is getting a bit excessive. Hiding behind a piece of metal to avoid talking to me is taking it _way_ too far. " Dana commented in her usual mocking tone, causing Veronica to close her locker door so that she could see the vampire in question stood before her, her usual arrogant and frustrating smirk on her face. Veronica softly sighed to herself, as she held the two books that she would need for that day in her arms, closing her locker and soon locking it.

"Who said I'm avoiding you?" Veronica responded simply, as Dana rolled her eyes in response to her words.

"No offence, Veronica, but a blind person could see that you're avoiding me." Dana commented, as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Is this still the Caroline thing? Because if it is, I'm impressed with your ability to hold a grudge, Ronnie. I mean, that's normally my job."

"No, it's not." Veronica replied, as she turned on her heel and began to walk off, Dana effortlessly catching up to her stride. "I'm living up to a promise that I made to my grandmother. She wants me to stay away from you, so that's what I'm doing. She thinks you're dangerous. And I know basically nothing about you, so I don't know if I can trust you. You won't tell me anything about you or Damon, or Stefan, so how am I meant to trust you?" Dana sighed softly, her hand running across her face before she proceeded to respond,

"Your grandmother is Sheila, isn't she?" When Veronica gave a small nod in response, Dana nodded softly, not seeming surprised by her answer in the slightest. "I always knew she hated me. Back when me and Janine used to hang out, back when she was really young, she always used to glare at me, silently judging me from the side-lines. But, I suppose that I've not really given you many reasons to trust me, have I? It's been a long while since I've had anything even remotely close to a friend, so I don't…. I don't really know what I'm doing." Dana admitted softly, as Veronica came to a stop once she had reached the classroom that she was timetabled to be in next. "But listen, you can trust me on this one thing. Neither me nor Stefan know what Damon has come back for, but it can't be good. I also haven't been truthful about my reasons for coming here, but let me promise you that I don't want to hurt anyone. Not yet anyway. I'm doing what I can to make sure that both Stefan and Damon leave you out of this, because getting involved in my family drama is the absolute last thing you want. You focus on your witchy stuff, it'll be useful in the future, and I'll try and resolve the latest Salvatore drama. Okay?" Dana asked, her blue eyes looking at the Bennett witch with a slightly concerning amount of seriousness contained within her eyes as Veronica gave a small nod in response to her words, just in time for the bell to ring loudly, signalling the start of their history lesson.

Veronica followed Dana into the classroom, with her almost immediately going to her seat in the far back corner of the room and soon sitting down. She liked sitting at the back, especially when she'd had Tanner as a teacher. Being at the back made her able to hide from Mr Tanner and his quick-fire questions that he always seemed to ask. Not that she didn't know the answers, she was just very much aware of how nervous she got whenever she was made to speak in public and she didn't want to make an idiot out of herself anymore than she already did on a daily basis. As other students began to slowly walk into the room for the lesson, one of which was Elena, Veronica placed her satchel bag down on the floor and began to rummage through it for her school supplies that she would need for that lesson. She was only vaguely aware of her surroundings and the people entering the room, as she focused on finding what she would need for the lesson. Just as the young witch placed her textbook, notebook and pens down on the desk, the sound of an unfamiliar, male voice soon filled the room.

"Good morning everyone." The young girl looked up from the books before her, as her eyes soon settled on the man that had just entered the room, her expression softening slightly. Presumably, this was the new history teacher, and physically, he couldn't be more different to Mr Tanner. This man was slightly taller than Mr Tanner had been, with him having a slightly more thin and less muscular frame than that of her old teacher. His face was younger, with him appearing to be in his late twenties or early thirties, but at the same time there seemed to be something in his eyes that held an element of age. It was almost as if he had seen some things in his time that had caused him to mature slightly. The male's hair was brown in colour, short and slightly styled with occasional strands sticking up, which was apparently a fashion choice, and as the male reached the board and looked around at the class, the girl noticed the dark blue colour of his eyes. Her breath slightly caught in her throat as she noticed how intense the colour was. Dressed in a variety of shades of blue, the man proceeded to pull off his jacket, draping it casually over the back of the chair as he turned to face the chalkboard behind him.

"Alrighty." The man mumbled softly to himself as he picked up the chalk, and began to write a series of large letters on the board, with it taking the witch a short while to realise that it was actually a name. "Alaric Saltzman." The male read out the words that he had written somewhat neatly on the board. "It's a mouthful, I know. Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. Saltzman is of German origins. My family emigrated here in 1755 to Texas. I, however, was born and raised in Boston. Now the name Alaric belongs to a very dead great-grandfather I will never be able to thank enough. You'll probably want to pronounce it " _Ala_ ric" but it's "Al _ar_ ic," okay?" The man explained as his eyes briefly made contact with those of Veronica for a few moments, causing the witch to almost immediately look down at the floor, cursing herself internally once she realised what she was doing. She almost definitely should not be looking at her new teacher in this manner. She hadn't even spoken to him yet, it was weird and creepy, and she should almost definitely stop before she fell too deep into this, trying her hardest to force herself to ignore the quite good looking man. "So, you can call me Ric. I'm your new history teacher." The male finally stated, a small smile pulling at his lips as he looked around the room with a slight flicker of nervousness held within his eyes.

Veronica gave the man a small, slightly nervous encouraging smile, as she soon proceeded to pick up her pen, ready to pay attention.

This man had no idea what town he'd just walked into.

* * *

Veronica took a small sip from the cup of coffee that she'd bought, as she sat down beside Elena at the lunch table. The young witch placed her cup down on the wooden table before her, finding herself being rather confused and concerned by the tale that Bonnie was telling her and Elena. Supposedly, her sister had been having rather eerie and vivid dreams about their ancestor Emily since she had been wearing her pendant, that she hadn't thought to mention to Veronica or their grandmother. "And then, I ended up at the remains of the old Fell's church before I woke up back in the woods." Bonnie concluded the tale of the dream that she'd had whilst she had fallen asleep during science class.

"Well, falling asleep in science is understandable." Dana's sarcastic tones commented, as she proceeded to sit down on the bench beside Bonnie. "But the whole forest thing is a bit weird." The vampire added on, causing Elena to tilt her head slightly.

"If all you're gonna do is make sarcastic comments, Dana, please just leave. It's not helping." Elena commented politely, causing Dana to roll her eyes and casually slump back.

"Well, I'm sorry that we can't all be Little Miss Perfect who always has the best solution to issues." Dana commented in a slightly bitter tone, crossing her arms over her chest, as Veronica shot a small discouraging glare in her direction. Now was not the time to be arguing with Elena.

"Right. Anyway, you always see your ancestor Emily?" Elena asked, as she looked back at Bonnie, causing the elder of the two Bennett twins to softly nod in response, a look of anxiety clearly held within her eyes. Veronica lightly bit down on her lower lip, not entirely sure what advice she could offer to Bonnie within that moment. It was clear that this was a magical thing, but dealing with it was another situation entirely.

"Mhm. Do you believe in ghosts?" Bonnie asked, with her question being clearly aimed at Elena and Veronica, with the latter of the two merely giving a small shrug of her shoulders. She wasn't too sure if she believed in ghosts. She quite liked the idea of knowing that those she loved and had lost would always be around her, and given what she had learned about the world that she lived in during the past few weeks it wouldn't even be that much of a surprise. Elena however, was equally as mixed in her response, as she commented,

"Two weeks ago I'd say no, but now..." The young brunette girl trailed off, looking at Bonnie and Veronica, before Dana abruptly cut her off.

"I do. How can you not?" Dana responded, the familiar small smirk of arrogance soon forming on her expression, the smirk on her lips making her look eerily similar to Damon. "I mean, in a world that you know contains witches, is it really that much of a stretch for your imagination to think that ghosts are real? I know that you're not very smart, but come on." The vampire commented, with her eyes mostly flicking between Bonnie and Elena as she spoke, earning her a small discouraging look from Veronica and Bonnie.

"Gee, thanks." Bonnie commented, as she wrapped her arms around herself, before she soon added on, "All helpful sarcasm aside… I genuinely think I'm being haunted."

"I don't get it. Why Emily?" Elena questioned, as Veronica decided to pipe up and speak for the first time in that conversation.

"Because we're related." Veronica spoke quietly, as she too wrapped her arms around her middle. "That necklace was hers, and she seemed to wear it a lot. I'm presuming that witches can form bonds with objects, right?" She asked, looking more towards Dana as she asked her question, with the young vampire soon giving a small nod in response.

"You're learning, Ronnie." Dana responded with the small smirk still on her expression. "They're called talismans, and they can be all sorts of things, but most notably, they're items of jewellery."

"Do you want me to take it?" Veronica offered to her sister, holding out her hand to her sister, willing to take the pendant away. She wouldn't mind having the weird creepy visions, especially if it meant that Bonnie wouldn't have to go through it. "Because I'll happily do that." One of Bonnie's hands lightly clasped down around the amber stone at her sister's words, clearly contemplating her sibling's offer, before she gave a small shake of her head.

"No. It's alright. Emily chose me to help her. I want to do that." Bonnie responded softly. But, before Veronica had a chance to object to her sister's decision, her attention was diverted by Jeremy approaching the table.

"Hey, Ronica." He greeted her softly, as he rested casually against the table, Veronica looking up at him with a small smile on her lips. "I, um, I don't suppose you happen to know what room Mr Saltzman's in, do you? I've been told that he wants to see me, and I have no idea how to find him." Veronica nodded softly in response to his words, as she proceeded to softly answer,

"Yeah, he's in Mr Tanner's old room. That's where he was this morning, anyway. Why do you have to see him?" The young witch asked her question curiously, allowing her head to tilt slightly as Jeremy soon answered her question.

"I have no idea." He admitted with a small shrug of his shoulders. "Although knowing my luck, he's probably going to yell at me for how I was with Tanner." Veronica's expression softened for a few moments, going to speak before Dana's voice cut her off.

"Why don't you take dear little Ronnie with you, then?" The vampire asked curiously, the look of pure mischief contained within her eyes causing Veronica to lightly raise an eyebrow. She was up to something. "I mean, she can defend you from the big bad history teacher."

"Who are you?" Jeremy asked, clearly being very confused by the girl's presence and suggestion, as Dana looked up at the much taller boy.

"Dana Salvatore. Cousin of Damon and Stefan. Charming to meet you, I'm sure. Take her with you. I'm sure Ronnie would love to see the history teacher again, wouldn't you, Ron?" Dana responded simply, causing Veronica to lightly blush, some of her brown hair coming down to partially hide her face in a timid manner.

"I…I have no idea what you're talking about, Dana." Veronica responded, internally cursing herself for being perhaps the worst person at lying that there was, before her brown eyes looked at Jeremy. "I doubt that you need me to come with you to guide you, but if you do, I'll come, Jer." She responded softly, giving the boy a small smile.

"Oh yes, I'm sure that you were just… really enthralled with history this morning. Don't think I've ever seen you quite so interested in a lesson, Ronnie." Dana commented in a joking tone, causing Veronica to shoot a small playful glare at her, wishing that the vampire would stop teasing her before she further embarrassed herself in front of her sister and incredibly close friend.

"I'd appreciate that, Ronnie. Thanks." Jeremy commented, as the young woman proceeded to grab her coffee and her satchel bag, soon rising to her feet. She gave a small wave in the direction of Bonnie and Elena, as she commented,

"We'll talk about the issue later, alright?" Bonnie hesitantly nodded in response, before she began to head back into school, with Jeremy slowly trailing after her.

"So, what was Dana talking about?" Jeremy asked as he caught up to the girl once they had entered the building, a small playful look in his eyes, as Veronica simply rolled her eyes. She soon came to a stop once she had reached Alaric's classroom, her brown eyes catching sight of the male in question sat at his desk eating his lunch. She gave him a small and timid wave, before almost immediately stepping out of sight so that Jeremy could step into the doorway. "Hey Mr Saltzman, I'm Jeremy Gilbert. You wanted to see me?" Jeremy inquired, as he soon headed into the classroom. Veronica was about to head off back to her group of friends, when the sound of Alaric's voice reached her ears.

"Is she a friend of yours?" The male teacher inquired, as Veronica's heartrate dramatically increased within her chest, the young girl soon stopping in the doorway. The young brunette turned to face the male teacher and her best friend who was stood on the opposite side of the desk to him, trying her hardest to hide the fact that her face was slowly reddening as a result of Dana's previous teasing affecting her mind as she feared that she might come across as weird if the teacher were to notice.

"She is, yeah." Jeremy responded, a small smile once again pulling at his lips, as he looked to the incredibly shy girl in the doorway. "I got a bit lost, so she helped me find this room. Her name's Veronica." Jeremy introduced the girl to the teacher, as Alaric gave a small and simple nod in response, Veronica's heart pounding in her chest even faster if that were possible as his eyes met with hers once more.

"I know who she is. It's nice to see you again, Miss Bennett." Alaric responded politely, with the Bennett witch being rather surprised that he had already managed to learn her name, despite having not spoken to her at all during their lesson earlier on. In order to prevent herself from embarrassing herself further, the young woman proceeded to give a small and polite nod in response, turning to look at Jeremy.

"I… I'll see you at the Grill later, Jeremy. G-Goodbye, Mr Saltzman." She spoke nervously, giving the pair a small nod before she headed off down the hallway, allowing him to speak about whatever it was that Alaric wanted to talk to him about, internally cursing herself.

Why did she have to think he was good looking? Why did Dana have to tease her and thus make her look like an absolute fool?

Now she just looked more insane than anything.

 **AN: And I'm going to end it there! Thank you for reading, I hoped that you enjoyed! So, Alaric has finally arrived! I know that a few of you were looking forward to Alaric arriving, so hopefully his arrival lived up to your expectations! Anyway, now that he's arrived, I would just like to reassure you that him and Veronica are not just going to suddenly enter a relationship, I'm going to work on building them up over the course of this season! I want to make it seem believable for Alaric's character, and I like building up romances! Although, I will promise you that there will be a good few cute moments between them, because that's one of the few things I'm good at as a writer! Also, just in case anyone was wondering, Dana will also have a love interest over the course of the story, although that will be something that I focus more on in season two. The reason that I bring this up is because I'm curious about who you guys think she's going to end up dating! So, if you leave a review for this chapter, let me know who you think Dana would be good with and I'll let you know in the next chapter if anyone guessed it! I can promise you that it won't be Alaric, we have enough canon love triangles as it is, we don't need another one. Anyway, if you don't mind, please leave me a review to let me know what you thought of the chapter and I'll see you on Monday for the next update!**


	20. Chapter 19: Everything Is Blue

**AN: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, any of the characters or the plot, that belongs to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. I solely own Dana and Veronica. All rights go to their original owners.**

Veronica wrapped her arms around herself as she looked up at Jeremy, who was sat beside her, her eyes soon going to Jenna who was sat opposite her. "I like a man who can dine alone. A quiet strength." Jenna softly commented as she took a small sip from her drink, Veronica soon noticing that she was looking over at someone sitting on the far side of the Grill to the group of three in their small booth. Curiously, the young Bennett peered around Jeremy to see who it was that Jenna was talking about, a lump forming in her throat once she saw that it was Alaric, who was sat at his table and reading something that the witch couldn't quite make out from the angle that she was at.

"I thought you were still in that whole Logan-depression thing." Jeremy commented, a small smirk pulling at his lips as he looked down at Veronica, watching as the Bennett witch proceeded to slump back into her seat in a slightly casual manner before his attention returned to Jenna. A slightly sly smile pulled at the lips of the strawberry blonde woman, as she gave a small and modest shrug of her shoulders in response.

"I've sworn off men forever." Jenna stated, her slightly cunning smile growing slightly. "But that doesn't mean I can't observe them from a safe distance." Veronica's brown eyes met those of Jenna as she lightly bit down on her lower lip, not liking the smirk that she saw was beginning to grow on Jeremy's lips out of the corner of her eye.

"Well, I can introduce you." Jeremy began, as his eyes looked down at Veronica, a slightly playful look soon forming in his eyes. "But, then I think that you might have some competition." The male commented, as he slightly ruffled Veronica's hair, causing the witch to lightly push his shoulder in response.

"Shh, Jer!" She commented to him, causing Jeremy to merely laugh, and Jenna to let out a soft 'aww'. Veronica's eyes fearfully went to the teacher in question, fearing that perhaps he might be able to hear what they were saying, and think that she had a crush on him when she didn't. She just happened to think that he was good looking, which was not the same as having a crush on someone. That was a concept that no one seemed to understand.

"Oh, I see. Worried he might hear you, hmm?" Jeremy teased her, causing Veronica to shoot a small glare in his direction.

"I don't have a crush on my new history teacher, Jer." Veronica insisted as she once again relaxed into her seat. "You know me, I've never had a crush on a guy before. Guys are never interested in me, so what's the point?" The young woman asked, as Jenna proceeded to take this moment to interrupt.

"Well, someone's in denial." She commented, as she took another sip from her drink, as Veronica softly rolled her eyes.

"I'm not in denial." Veronica maintained her previous stance. "Dana was joking, it's what she does. She's sarcastic all the time. I'm not attracted to him. I just happen to think that he's good looking. That's not having a crush on someone, that's just… admiring someone aesthetically." The witch commented, causing Jenna to softly scoff, with Veronica now internally cursing Dana for making that sarcastic comment earlier today.

"Wow." Jenna remarked. "Fine, you can live in denial all you want, Ronnie. When you're ready to admit that you like him, I'm more than open to talk to you." Jenna spoke with a small smirk on her lips, with Veronica giving her a small and simple nod in response. She was well aware that she was now blushing, which probably wasn't helping the situation at all. "So, have you picked a topic?" Jenna asked after a short while, finally bringing the conversation away from Veronica and her not-crush, causing Jeremy to softly shake his head, and Veronica to look over at the boy. Jenna was referring to the paper that Alaric had set him for extra credit, which had been what their meeting had been about earlier, something that Veronica thought was very sweet of him to do. She appreciated him helping out Jeremy, especially given the trouble that the young boy have managed to get himself into lately with the whole Vicki drama.

"No, not yet. It's gotta be local and non-internet research, so..." Jeremy began his statement, clearly having no idea what he was going to do his paper on. Veronica was almost tempted for a few moments to suggest that the boy look into the occult history of the town, something that her grandmother had been teaching her about since she had learned that she was a witch. But, she feared that if he did that, he might figure out what she was and given that she'd been strictly instructed by her grandmother not to tell anyone else, she didn't want that. Thus she chose to stay silent, with Jenna soon making a suggestion.

"That's easy! You've got all your dad's stuff." Jenna replied, causing a look of confusion to form on the expression of the Bennett girl and the boy by her side. Jeremy's father had been a doctor, not a historian, what did he have that might enable Jeremy to do a history paper?

"What stuff?" Jeremy queried with a hint of intrigue in his voice.

"The _'How the Gilberts came over on the Mayflower'_ stuff, all that family lineage from way back. Your dad really loved all that family history stuff. It's all boxed up in the closet." Jenna answered simply, with Jeremy going to open his mouth to speak, before he abruptly silenced himself as someone approached the table that they were sat at. Veronica once again internally cursed upon realising that it was Alaric who had approached their table, hoping that Jeremy and Jenna wouldn't say anything that would get her into trouble or make the teacher hate her.

"Mr Saltzman." Jeremy greeted the male with a smirk on his lips, holding up his hand as the pair did a handshake, a small chuckle soon falling from Alaric's lips.

"Jeremy. What's up, man?" Alaric asked, as his eyes moved away from the young boy to look at the small Bennett witch that was sat closely to Jeremy, giving her a small and simple smile. "Hello, Veronica." He greeted her softly and politely, as Veronica looked up at him, trying her hardest not to look into his eyes as that would probably be a tad weird.

"Hey, Mr Saltzman." The young Bennett witch responded, giving the male a gentle and timid smile, as his blue eyes met hers for a few moments despite her best intention, the witch's expression almost automatically softening. Her eyes continued to linger on his for a few moments, before the sound of Jeremy's voice brought her out of her thoughts, as she looked to the boy that was by her side.

"This is my aunt, Jenna." Jeremy introduced the woman opposite him, as Veronica noticed the almost ridiculously large smirk that was held on her best friend's expression. She nervously looked down, allowing her brown hair to come down and form a curtain around her face, hiding her embarrassment from the teacher. Shyly, she watched through her curtain of hair as Alaric proceeded to look over at the woman, holding out his hand to her soon afterwards.

"Alaric Saltzman. It's nice to meet you." The teacher introduced himself politely, as his attention soon returned to the Bennett girl that was partially hiding behind her hair. "Are you alright, Veronica?" He asked the woman, with a slight hint of concern held in his tone, as Veronica almost immediately nodded, hesitantly brushing her hair away from her face.

"I…I'm fine, Sir." She insisted softly, her voice trembling, as she soon rose to her feet. "I….I'm just gonna… go and get a drink." The young woman commented, wanting to get out of the situation before she embarrassed herself further, as Alaric nodded and Veronica soon headed in the direction of the bar. With her back to her group of friends and the teacher, she buried her face in her hands, wondering why she was such an awkward person naturally.

"Looks like you're having about as much fun as I am." A familiar female voice soon reached her ears, as she looked in the direction of the sound, soon catching sight of Dana, Stefan and Damon stood a few inches away from her at the bar with none of them seemingly talking to her as she had initially believed.

"Hmm." Damon responded simply to her comment, as he looked up from the glass of amber tinted liquid that he held in his hands to look over at his cousin. "Why are you two here? Here to ask about my diabolical master plan again?" Veronica raised an eyebrow slightly at that question, wondering what Damon meant by that, whilst Dana merely shrugged her shoulders.

"Nope. I have ulterior motives." Dana replied in a slightly joking tone, a small smirk pulling at her lips as she proceeded to casually rest against the bar, thus turning her back to Veronica.

"Oh, really? Stalking the Bennett girl again, are we?" Damon asked, with Veronica tensing slightly at the mention of her name, presuming that he was talking about her rather than Bonnie. "She's not going to want to be your friend, Dana. You don't have friends, ever, so just give up on it. She's not worth it." Damon spoke in a slightly cold tone, as his attention temporarily went to Stefan. "And how about you? Why are you here?"

"Why not?" Stefan responded with a small shrug of his shoulders, the actions slightly confusing the Bennett girl, whose attention was soon pulled away by the bartender approaching her, and asking what she wanted to order.

What the hell were they talking about?

* * *

As she harshly bit down on her lower lip, Veronica slowly took a step forwards, her brown eyes studying the history teacher that was sat by himself at the bar, a half full glass of bourbon before him. Her eyes nervously flicked back to the brunette girl that was now sat in her booth, with Dana having been the one who had told her to go over to talk to him shortly after Jeremy and Jenna had headed home. Dana shot her a small encouraging nod, with Veronica slowly taking another step towards the teacher, as her quiet and nervous voice piped up, "M-Mr Saltzman?" The history teacher turned away from the glass that he was staring at to find the source of the voice, his blue eyes soon looking up at the standing Bennett witch.

"Oh, hey." He greeted the girl softly, a partially crooked grin forming on his expression. "What's up, Veronica?" The male inquired, as he pulled out the stool to the left of him, gesturing for the girl to sit down. She slowly did so, sitting beside the man, as she softly smiled at him.

"I, um…" She softly sighed, brushing some of her dark coloured hair away from her face, a slightly nervous laugh soon falling from her lips. "I just wanted to thank you for everything that you've done to help Jeremy. He's been through a rough time lately, and most teachers just look at him and dismiss him as trouble, and you didn't. You were willing to give him a chance, despite not knowing him, so thank you. It was very nice of you, and he really does appreciate it." The young woman explained truthfully, a light look of nervousness soon appearing in her eyes, fearing that the male might think that she was weird for doing so. However, Alaric merely just softly chuckled, as he placed down the glass in his hand, his eyes looking at the Bennett girl's dark brown ones.

"You're very welcome." He responded politely, his smile growing slightly. "You know, it's my first day. I didn't want to go causing any issues for anyone. Didn't want to be that teacher that starts, and makes everyone hate them in the first five minutes." The male added on in a joking tone, causing the witch to let out a soft laugh. "So, are you and Jeremy just friends? You seemed to be… rather close earlier on." The male inquired in a slightly teasing tone, causing the witch's face to almost immediately heat up once more.

"Oh, god, no! We're just friends. Best friends. Basically always have been." The Bennett witch responded honestly. "He used to like this girl, called Vicki, and I… Well, I'm forever alone." The man laughed softly at her words.

"I'm sure that you won't always be." He returned with an air of confidence in his tone, as Veronica gave a small shrug of her shoulders in response, another slightly nervous laugh falling from her lips.

"Oh, you clearly have no idea how awkward I can be at times then." She responded, as she wrapped her arms around herself in a rather shy manner. "So… What brings you to Mystic Falls? We don't often get new people coming to stay here." She inquired, watching as the man's smile faltered slightly as she asked her question, causing the Bennett witch to almost immediately regret asking it in the first place.

"Change of scenery." The man responded, a small hint of hesitation held in his tone. "I like it here… It's got a lot of history to it." Veronica nodded softly in response, giving a small sigh soon afterwards.

"I'm sorry, I probably shouldn't have asked that, it was really rude of me." The young woman apologised, a nervous smile forming on her expression. "I… I'm curious. Ridiculously so at times, and I often ask questions that I shouldn't. I'll…. I'll leave you to enjoy your evening without some weird girl harassing you." The witch nervously stumbled onto her feet, turning on her heel and quickly going to walk away, before she heard Alaric call after her.

"Veronica?" The male's voice softly asked, causing the witch to stop in her tracks and slowly turn back to face him, her arms wrapped so tightly around herself that she could only just barely breathe as her brown eyes met his.

"Yes?" The witch inquired, as the male gave her another small smile.

"I don't mind you asking questions." He reassured her, causing a sensation of slight relief to run through the woman, with her soon delicately brushing some of her dark brown hair away from her face and tucking it behind her ear. "I wouldn't blame you for wanting to head home, it's pretty late, but if you'd like to stay, you can ask some more questions, Little Miss Curious." The young Bennett witch's natural curiosity got the better of her common sense in that moment, as she proceeded to take a few steps towards him, sitting down on the stool beside him once more, a small smile pulling on her lips as she did so.

"Alright."

 **AN: And I'm going to end that there, thank you very much for reading, I hope that you enjoyed! I hope that you guys enjoyed the cute moments, like I said, there's going to be a few of them over the course of the coming season to try and build up the relationship between Veronica and Alaric! So, if you're a reader who likes things like that, get ready for some a lot of cute things coming up. If you're not, worry not! I will still be focusing largely on the plot and on revealing Dana's backstory and similar things, so there will something for you too! Anyway, with regards to the question that I asked last time about Dana and her love interest, no one was actually able to guess who her love interest is going to be, so I'll give you all another chance to guess, just for the fun of it! If it helps, it's a major character in the show that hasn't appeared in the story yet, so hopefully that might narrow it down slightly! Anyway, let me know who you think it might be, and I'll see you on Friday for the next chapter!**


	21. Chapter 20: Oh Nostalgia

**AN: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, any of the characters or the plot, that belongs to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. I solely own Dana and Veronica. All rights go to their original owners.**

Dana looked around herself in slight confusion as she followed Stefan and Damon out onto the football field, the cold night air causing her to shiver slightly, as she causally slid her hands into the pockets of her leather jacket and her feet lightly kicked the grass beneath her feet. After Veronica had headed off to talk to Alaric, Dana had left the Grill, deciding that she should in fact make sure that Damon and Stefan didn't try to kill each other whilst having this conversation. After all, ever since Damon had come back, he and Stefan had seemed to be unable of holding a civilised conversation. "So, what are we doing here?" Damon was the first to speak as he and Stefan reached the middle of the field, with Dana slowly coming to a stop a few inches behind the elder of the Salvatore brothers.

"Yes, Stefan. Pray tell why you brought me here. I was having fun." Dana prompted the younger of the two Salvatores, playing along with the plan that Stefan had told her about earlier by playing dumb.

"Oh yes, because watching the Bennett witch really sounds like a good evening." Damon responded, causing Dana to shoot a small glare in his direction.

"Because attempting to get drunk is a much better way to spend your evening, isn't it, Damon?" Dana snarkily responded, causing Stefan to interrupt before Damon was able to respond anything to continue to argue.

"We're here to bond." Stefan responded, as he produced a football from the inside of his jacket, a bright smile pulling at his lips. "Come on, give it a try." He encouraged, as Dana merely rolled her eyes. The woman watched from a distance, biding her time as the pair threw the ball around and played the game, a small scoff falling from her lips as Stefan proceeded to tackle Damon to the ground. Dana then took her moment, using her speed to dash forward and grab hold of the ball, quickly throwing the ball over the large posts at the far end of the field with her advanced strength helping her to do so. A large smirk pulled at the lips of the Salvatore girl as she turned back to look at the two other vampires that were now on the floor.

"Always the one to take the fun out of everything, aren't you, Dana?" Damon inquired in a sarcastic tone, causing the girl to roll her eyes as she soon lay down on the cold grass, her bright blue eyes looking up at the stars above her. She had never really understood the obsession with them in the many years that she'd been alive. They were just stars, nothing that impressive. Even when she had been human, she'd not found them all that fascinating, believing them to just be light in the darkness.

"I'm impressed, Stefan. Fun with booze and darts, sentimental with football, and now? Starry night. What do you want?" Damon's voice inquired, shattering the rather peaceful silence that had fallen between the group, as he slowly sat up. Dana's eyes looked away from the stars above her to look over at the vampire in question. Of course, it had to be Damon to bring back the conversation at hand, ruining the calm atmosphere that had formed. Slowly, Dana herself sat up, raking a hand through her messy brown hair to make sure that she hadn't managed to get any grass in it.

"It wasn't real, Damon. Our love for Katherine. She compelled us. We didn't have a choice. Took me years to sort that out, to truly understand what she did to us." Stefan insisted as he too sat up, a hint of seriousness contained within his voice, with Dana allowing a small sigh to fall from her lips at the mention of the infamous Katherine. She'd never met the infamous girl that Damon had been so madly in love with, as she had been turned into a vampire after Katherine's time, but from what she had heard, she sounded like a bitch. Damon too, was seemingly opposed to Stefan's mention of the girl, as he soon got onto his feet and let out a small scoff.

"Oh, no, Stefan. We are not taking that on tonight." Damon responded dismissively as he went to walk away, with Stefan shooting a small look in Dana's direction, causing the girl to roll her eyes. Almost immediately, the girl used her vampire abilities to speed in front of Damon, standing her ground in front of the male. Damon looked down at the girl with a severely unimpressed look on his expression, going to speak, before Stefan spoke and distracted his attention.

"What do you want with Katherine's crystal?" Stefan asked, as he too got onto his feet, with Damon seeming slightly confused about how he managed to know about the crystal. Dana found herself also being slightly confused, before she remembered the conversation that she'd had with Bonnie, Elena and Veronica earlier on that day, and the large amber pendant that Bonnie had been wearing around her neck. That pendant had belonged to Katherine? Stefan hadn't bothered to tell her that.

"How do you know about that?" Damon asked, as he looked back at his brother, soon turning to face him with his body completely tensed.

"Come on. You knew Elena would tell me." Stefan answered almost as if it was obvious, with Damon soon looking back at Dana, causing the brunette girl to give a small shrug of her shoulders in response.

"If it means anything, I've only just figured it out. Seems I'm still left out of all the family secrets." Dana offered, with Damon completely ignoring her statement as he soon looked back at Stefan.

"How do you know it was Katherine's? Emily gave it to her on her last night. I was with her, and you weren't." Damon demanded to know, his voice now regaining that slightly cold edge that it had contained on the first night that Damon had returned to town.

"I was the last one to see her, Damon. Now, what do you want with Katherine's crystal?" Stefan replied, demanding to know what it was that Damon wanted to do with the pendant that had apparently once belonged to his beloved Katherine, with Dana also looking up at the elder vampire and waiting impatiently for his answer so that she could go back to somewhat enjoying her evening.

"She didn't tell you?" Damon asked in what was clearly attempting to be a frustrating tone, as Stefan gave a small shrug of his shoulders in response.

"We had other things on our mind." Stefan responded, as Dana rolled her eyes and didn't do anything to intervene as Damon proceeded to zoom towards the other vampire, a clear aggression to his motions with his blue eyes glaring at him.

"I could rip your heart out and not think twice about it. Both of you." Damon stated coldly, as Dana raised an eyebrow.

"Well, that's lovely. And you wonder why you don't have any friends." Dana commented in a cynical tone, with her tone revealing that she wasn't scared in the slightest of Damon's threat, now more than used to the vampire attempting to threaten her in order to do something that would benefit him.

"I've heard that before." Stefan responded to Damon's initial threat in an equally calm manner, a small smirk pulling at his lips, as Damon allowed a small scoff to fall from his lips. He soon began to take a few steps backwards, deliberately stepping out of the way of the female vampire as he did so.

"I have a bigger surprise, Stefan." Damon commented vaguely, as he continued to back up. "I'm gonna bring her back." The abrupt revelation from the vampire caused both Dana and Stefan to look at him in wide eyed confusion and shock, not understand how he was planning on bring back someone who had been dead since 1864.

"How can you bring Katherine back?" Stefan demanded to know, his green eyes looking up at his brother, whilst Dana's eyes flicked between the pair. She was more than ready to hold back whichever one of the vampires went to attack the other first, unafraid of what the other might do to her for intervening.

"Before Katherine and the others were killed in the church, you remember what it was like in this town?" Damon inquired, the slightly smug look held on his expression revealing that he was absolutely loving how much he was infuriating Stefan by holding back the answer to his question, as Dana shot a small glare at him.

"Just answer the question, Damon." Dana instructed, causing Damon to look back at her with the familiar hint of aggression held in his gaze, before Stefan answering his question caused him to once again look at his brother again.

"I remember the fear and the hysteria." Stefan stated simply, crossing his arms over his chest. There was now a slightly clouded look in his eyes, something that always seemed to happen whenever their past lives were brought up, with it being a combination of sadness about what had happened in the past and a sense of nostalgia about his human life. That was something else that Dana could never understand. She had hated her human life, she never wanted to remember it, certainly not in a fond manner.

"Townspeople were killing vampires one by one. When they came for Katherine, I went straight to Emily, said, _"I'll do anything. Name your price. Just protect her."_ She did." Damon explained, with Dana lightly biting down on her lower lip at the mention of Emily Bennett, hoping that however it was that Damon was planning on bringing back Katherine wouldn't involve either of the Bennett twins. She'd told Veronica that she wouldn't have to get involved in all of this.

"What did she do?" Dana inquired before Stefan had the chance to, as she took a few steps forwards so that she was closer to Damon, her eyebrow once again raising as Damon softly sighed to himself.

"She did some kind of spell with the crystal. And while the church was burning, and we thought Katherine was burning in it, she wasn't." Damon answered, causing Dana's head to tilt slightly. The woman went to speak again, before once again, Stefan cut her off. That was something that was beginning to infuriate her slightly.

"But I saw her go inside..." Stefan began, his expression revealing that he was clearly shocked about the sudden revelation that the girl he had believed to be dead this whole time was in fact still alive, somehow and it was all thanks to Emily Bennett.

"There's a tomb underneath the church. The spell sealed Katherine in that tomb, protecting her." Damon responded, the small smirk once again returning to his expression, with Dana now beginning to wonder how they would be able to get into that tomb and what would have to be done with the pendant to get it open. There was no way that this would be something simple.

"Are you telling me that Katherine's alive?" Stefan questioned, causing Dana to playfully roll her eyes.

"Yes, Stefan. That is what he's saying. Well done." Dana replied in a mocking tone, causing the younger brother to shoot her a small discouraging look, clearly not in the mood for the vampire's sarcastic comments in that emotional moment.

"He's right, Dana for once, shut up. She's alive, if that's what you wanna call it. She's been trapped in a mystical holding cell for the last century and a half, but you're an expert on starving a vampire, so how do you think she's doing, Stefan?" Damon responded, earning him a small scowl from the female Salvatore vampire, with her not being all that interested in the latest drama involving Katherine. She had no emotional ties to her, and didn't really care all that much about Stefan. Both of the vampires seemed to be better without Katherine around, anyway, from what she'd heard about how things used to be. "Did you know that witches can use celestial events to draw energy into their magic? Me neither. But in order to give the crystal its power, Emily used the comet that was passing overhead. And, in order for that crystal to work again..." Dana's eyes widened slightly, as she realised what the vampire was implying.

"You'd need the comet to come back again." Dana stated, as Damon gave a small and simple nod in response to her conclusion.

"Correct. Seems you are actually able of figuring things out by yourself, well done, Dana. Downside to that though? Long time in between comets. And, a couple of hiccups along the way with the crystal, but the comet passed, and I got the crystal. And then Caroline got the crystal, and now Bonnie has the crystal, and here we are." Damon retorted, as Dana allowed a small sigh to fall from her lips.

"That's why you want the stupid necklace back." Dana established, raking a hand through her messy hair. "And there was me thinking that you just wanted to be sentimental for once in your cold and loveless life. Should have known that you weren't capable of experiencing something like that." Damon scoffed in response to her words as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Well, that's rather rich, isn't it? Coming from you, Little Miss Loner, that's pretty ironic. I mean… I don't want to bring up the past, but..." Damon began, as Dana aggressively glared at him, pure rage in her eyes.

"Don't you dare." She snapped angrily. "Don't you dare bring up Russell, you know that's a low blow even for you."

"Dana." Stefan spoke, clearly attempting to regain some calm to the situation, going to place his hand on the girl's shoulder as Dana almost immediately pulled away from him as though she had been burned. "Damon, why would Emily...? Why would she do this for you?" Stefan asked with a small sigh, allowing his hand to fall down to his side.

"Because she knew they were gonna come for her, too, and she made me promise that her lineage would survive." Damon stated, as Dana raised an eyebrow, looking up at Damon.

"I remember. You saved her children." Stefan spoke softly, the revelation shocking Dana slightly. It was thanks to the vampire before her that the Bennett blood line had continued.

"It's the only thing keeping me from ripping that little Bonnie girl's throat out to get my crystal back. And with regards to the other one, well, I'm rather intrigued about what Dana's weird obsession with the girl is. Also, I get the feeling that killing little Ronnie won't exactly encourage Bonnie to help me. But, oh well, a deal's a deal." Damon responded, causing the female vampire to tense slightly at the mention of the two Bennett twins. Damon's smirk grew slightly as he saw that Dana was visibly angry at his words. "Adorable. So...you wanna go throw some more?" Damon asked in what was clearly meant to be an infuriating manner, as Dana looked back at Stefan.

Well, that was unexpected to say the least.

* * *

Veronica giggled to herself as she walked down the street, her brown eyes looking up at the male by her side, as she slipped her hands back into her pockets. "Oh, shush." She commented to the teacher in a slightly nervous manner, a small shiver running through her spine as the cold night air hit her skin. "I'm a million times more pathetic than you, okay? I once literally attempted to make myself fall down the stairs to get out of these cheerleading competition that Caroline was attempting to force me into because I didn't want some dumb girls to judge me." Veronica spoke, as she turned the corner and headed up the drive to her house, hearing the chuckle that soon fell from Alaric's lips.

"Hey, I've done some more pathetic things than that in my life." The male argued in response as he followed her down the drive, the pair soon coming to a stop on the porch of the witch's house. "I just don't tell people, cause they more often than not end up judging me." Veronica tilted her head slightly at the response of the male.

"Oh, now I'm intrigued." The Bennett witch responded, crossing her arms over her chest, as the teacher laughed once more.

"Well, if you ask me nicely, maybe I'll tell you." Alaric answered simply with a crooked smile once again pulling at his lips, as the girl timidly bit down on her lower lip, brushing some of her dark brown hair away from her face and tucking it behind her ear.

"I'll bear that in mind." She spoke, her voice incredibly soft, as she gave him a small smile. "Well, thank you very much for walking me home. You didn't have to do that." Alaric simply gave a small shrug of his shoulders in response, as he placed his hands into his pockets, slightly resting against the brick wall of the house as his eyes stayed on her.

"That's quite alright, Veronica. It's dark out, can't be too careful in this day and age. You never know what's out there. I'd never forgive myself if I allowed something bad to happen to one of my new students. I'd be a pretty bad teacher if that happened." The male responded, his voice gaining a slight gentleness to it, as the girl's smile grew slightly at his words.

"Well, thank you anyway. It was very kind of you." Veronica responded with her eyes looking up into his, before she became aware of someone quickly running up to her, causing her to look to her right. A look of confusion soon overtook her expression as she saw that it was Dana that was running towards her, as she slightly turned away from Alaric to look at the brunette vampire as she jumped up onto the porch.

"Oh, good, you're here." Dana commented, as she attempted to catch her breath, before she caught sight of Alaric stood to her right, her eyes widening slightly, as her attention turned to the Bennett witch once more. "And I interrupted something very interesting, didn't I? Veronica Bennett, you little player!" Veronica almost immediately felt her heart rate pick up within her chest, as she soon shook her head, noticing the look of pure bemusement that was held on Alaric's expression as a result of Dana's words. "Yeah, yeah, I get it. Subtle. Don't you worry. Hey, I'm Dana. We sort of met earlier, I'm in your history class." Dana commented with a small nod of respect in Alaric's direction, a gesture that the very confused male soon returned, before Dana lightly placed her hand on Veronica's arm. "You need to come with me." She spoke, bringing down the volume of her voice so that only she would be able to hear her, as Veronica felt her head tilt slightly.

"What's happened?" The witch asked softly, hoping that Damon hadn't attempted to go after Bonnie to try and get the pendant again. The slight fear contained within her eyes was soon understood by the vampire, as she gave her answer under her breath.

"We have an issue. A… magicky issue. Bonnie." Dana spoke, her eyes flicking over to Alaric, clearly wanting to make sure that the man hadn't just heard anything that she had just said to the Bennett girl. Veronica lightly bit down on her lower lip, as she nodded in understanding. Admittedly, she didn't really know the circumstances, but she didn't care about what was actually going on. Bonnie was in trouble, that was all that mattered.

Upon seeing that the Bennett witch understood what was going on, Dana softly smirked, her eyes looking back at Alaric. "Well, we'll see you around, Ric. Have a nice night. Come on, Ronnie." The vampire stated as she tightened her grasp on Veronica's arm, beginning to pull her back down the drive, causing Alaric to look at the pair in alarm. Veronica attempted to shoot him a small smile as Dana dragged her off down the drive, hoping to reassure him, but internally, she was cursing her life once more.

If he didn't think that she was weird before, he almost definitely did now.

 **AN: And I'm going to end it there, thank you very much for reading, I hope that you enjoyed! Just as a little side note I apologise if you've not been getting notifications for my updates, there's something weird going on with the site currently. But, I update every Monday and Friday, so check back during those days even if you don't get notifications! Anyway, aside from that, I'm sorry that this chapter wasn't very exciting, I know that not a lot happened in it, but I hope that you enjoyed it regardless! I'm trying to put in little hints towards Dana's backstory, so hopefully you've all been noticing them and beginning to form your own little ideas on what her past is! Anyway, please let me know what you thought of this chapter and I'll see you on Monday for the next update!**


	22. Chapter 21: Family Above All Else

**AN: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, any of the characters or the plot, that belongs to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. I solely own Dana and Veronica. All rights go to their original owners.**

Once they had reached the woods on the outside of town, Dana released her grasp on the girl's arm, clearly realising that it was much quicker for the pair of them to run than it was for her to have to drag her around. Somehow managing not to stumble over any twigs or other debris in the darkened forest that was barely lit up by the moon, the witch ran as fast as she could manage after the vampire girl, soon finding herself in a sort of clearing as her eyes caught sight of her sister and Damon, with the latter being pierced through the stomach by a wooden branch. Veronica came to a shaky stop as her eyes looked to Bonnie. "B-Bonnie? What's going on?" Veronica asked, as her sister turned to look at her with a look of slight detachment contained within her dark green eyes that caused Veronica's eyes to widen slightly in confusion.

"You're Veronica, aren't you?" Her sister asked in a strangely calm tone for the situation that she had found herself in, as Veronica tilted her head slightly.

"Yes." The Bennett witch responded, the confusion that she was feeling in that moment evident in the way that she spoke, as her dark coloured eyes studied her sibling for a few moments. "What's going on? Will someone please tell me?"

"Stefan." Her sister's oddly calm tone stated instead of answering Veronica's question, causing the witch to look over her shoulder and soon catch sight of Stefan and Elena a short distance away from her, with Elena's expression falling slightly as she caught sight of the Bennett witches.

"Hello, Emily." Stefan responded in a manner that severely lost the younger twin, causing her to soon look back at Dana with a look of sheer desperation in her eyes, as the vampire softly sighed.

"That pendant, it… I don't know, magic possession stuff. She's Emily now. Your ancestor." Dana answered, causing the girl's expression to soften slightly, as she soon looked back at her sister. The Bennett witch took a few steps towards the possessed girl, her dark coloured eyes soon catching sight of the strange symbols that had been drawn in the soft soil beneath her feet.

"These people don't deserve this. They should never have to know such evil." Emily commented, causing Veronica to look back up at the girl, her eyes meeting hers once more. "You should understand that, Veronica. Trust me when I reassure you, this has to happen."

"What does?" Veronica asked with her voice containing a slight nervous tremble, as she was slightly fearful about what this incredibly powerful witch might be about to do and how it might affect her sister. "Emily, what are you doing?" She demanded to know, not liking the look that was held within Emily's expression.

"What do you mean 'evil'?" Stefan questioned from behind the girl, with Veronica looking over her shoulder to see that the vampire and Elena were now helping to get Damon off the wooden branch, with Dana still holding her ground a few inches away from the group.

"Emily. I swear to God, I'll make you regret this!" Damon growled angrily as he was pulled off the branch, Stefan helping him to stay standing, as Dana's voice called out to her family members.

"Ever considered that this is for the best, Damon?" The girl asked, earning her a very angry glare from Damon as Veronica looked back at her sister/ancestor, noticing that the woman appeared to look at her with a small amount of softness that she didn't seem to hold for anyone else that was in the clearing. That was probably due to the fact that they were family. Perhaps that made her more likely to get through to her.

"I won't let you unleash them into this world." Emily answered icily, as Veronica's head tilted slightly at her words.

" _Them_?" She repeated the words of the woman. "Who are you talking about? Emily, what do you want?" The young Bennett girl asked. She went to walk towards the possessed girl, when Stefan loudly commanded for her to not get any closer which caused the girl to stop abruptly. She was now mere inches away from one of the weird lines drawn in the soil.

"What part of the story did you leave out, Damon?" Stefan demanded to know, as Veronica looked back at the two vampires in pure bemusement.

"What does it matter?" Damon responded in a careless manner, earning him a small glare from Dana.

"Funnily enough, it matters a lot!" Dana snapped angrily at him, as Stefan soon looked back at Bonnie, clearly seeking for the answers that Veronica hoped would help both her and him make a lot more sense out of what on Earth was going on.

"Emily, tell me what you did." Stefan instructed, his voice somehow gaining a slight air of calm, despite everything that was happening around him.

"To save her, I had to save them." Emily responded serenely, with Veronica shooting a small look in Dana's direction, hoping that the vampire might give her some form of indication about everything that was going on and some hints about who the ominous 'her' was. For once, however, Dana seemed slightly stunned into silence by the revelation that had just happened. Apparently Emily's words meant something to her.

"You saved everyone in the church?" Stefan questioned, as Veronica looked around at the group, noticing that she appeared to be the only one that was completely lost by how things were turning out and she was far too afraid to interject and ask what was going on once more. She feared that Damon in his angry state might lose control.

"With one, comes all." Emily confirmed.

"I don't care about them. I just want Katherine." Damon responded, with Veronica beginning to put together what she thought might have been happening. Whoever Katherine was, Damon was in love with her, or had been at one point in time, and something had happened to her. Emily had sealed her in a church, or under a church, and now Damon wanted her back.

"I knew I shouldn't have believed a single word that comes out of your mouth. This isn't about love, is it? This is about revenge." Stefan stated, bringing Veronica out of her thoughts about what might have happened between Damon and this Katherine girl, as she continued to watch the two vampires in a stunned silence.

"The two aren't mutually exclusive." Damon answered emotionlessly, causing Veronica's expression to change to one of slight confusion, with the sound of a loud sigh from Dana soon reaching her ears.

"Damon, you can't do this." Stefan insisted.

"Why not? They killed 27 people, and they called it a war battle. They deserve whatever they get." Damon answered, shooting a small glare in the direction of Bonnie and Veronica, with the latter of the two looking back at him, her expression softened.

"Not all of them do." Dana argued, causing Damon to look back over at her.

"Oh yes, because you're really the expert on making friends and judging character, aren't you, Dana? You barely know her! When she knows who you really are, what you really are, she'll want nothing to do with you. Just like your other friends did, because you're just like me!" Damon snapped aggressively back at the brunette girl. "We're vampires, we don't have friends!"

"Shut up." Dana stated, with Veronica noticing the strong tone that the girl used, her defiance of the male clearly showing. "Just shut up!"

"Both of you. Be quiet." Stefan demanded, taking control of the conversation once more, earning him a scowl from Dana. "27 vampires, Damon. They were vampires. You can't just bring them back."

"This town deserves this." Damon responded, as his focus once again went back to his brother, not being swayed by his argument in the slightest. Veronica looked back at Emily, finding herself being rather creeped out by the fact that the woman appeared to be just standing there, watching the interaction between the two vampires before her like Veronica herself was doing. Although she strongly doubted that Emily was staying silent because she was too afraid to interject.

"You're blaming innocent people for something that happened 145 years ago." Stefan argued, as Damon rolled his eyes.

"There is nothing innocent about these people, and don't think for a second it won't happen again. They already know too much, and they'll burn your little grandwitch right next to us when they find out. Trust me." Damon responded, looking back at Veronica and Bonnie, causing Veronica to tense slightly at the fact that the vampire seemed intent on bringing her family into this.

"I won't let them." Veronica responded, trying her absolute hardest to be brave in the circumstances. Her words earned her a loud scoff from Damon, with him clearly not believing the girl's words.

"Veronica, there is no need to justify yourself. Things are different now." Emily stated, as she took a few steps forwards. Her eyes looked at Dana for a few moments, before her eyes flicked back to Veronica, a gesture that slightly confused the Bennett witch.

"Don't do this." Damon spoke, almost as though he were begging the girl not to do whatever it was that she was planning on doing.

"I can't free them. I won't." Emily insisted, but before Veronica had even so much as a chance to question what it was that her ancestor was up to, she felt Dana speed up to her, forcefully pulling her back a few inches, just in time for Emily to exclaim, " _Incendia!_ " Veronica jumped slightly as the strange lines that had been drawn into the dirt abruptly burst into flames, with the witch soon recognising the symbol that surrounded her sister to be a pentagram.

"Emily!" The witch called out to her relative, watching as the witch proceeded to produce the pendant in question, the pendant that had caused so many issues in the first place and Veronica's eyes widened slightly. _"Ex spiritum in tacullum, en terrum incendium, phasmatos salves a distum."_ Veronica began to recite the spell that she had found in her spell book during the times that she had read it, hoping that reducing the intensity of the fire would reduce the chance of her sister getting hurt by the flames that now surrounded her on all sides. However, as the flames only receded a tiny bit, it was evident that Emily was far too strong for the trainee witch to even try and fight.

As the sounds of Elena's concerned screams for her sister and Damon begging the witch not to do whatever it was that she was planning to do with the pendant reached her ears, Veronica could only watch in terrified silence as Emily proceeded to throw the pendant up into the air and the item soon exploded into thousands of tiny sparks. The younger witch ducked her head to make sure that none of the sparks ended up in her eyes, trying her hardest to get out of Dana's grasp so that she could attempt to help her sister, her eyes looking back up just as the fire receded down to nothing. Upon seeing the incredibly confused look on Bonnie's expression, Veronica soon realised that Emily had finally let her sister go, resulting in a sensation of relief to run through her. Bonnie was safe.

As the witch went to call out to her twin, a loud growl reached her ears, something that she soon realised was coming from Damon. The male vampire in question soon proceeded to speed forward, with his fangs visible, as he proceeded to attack Bonnie with a strong aggression in his actions. Veronica's expression soon shifted into one of pure horror at the sight, whilst Elena let out another scream of terror. As Stefan went to pull Damon off of the girl, Veronica continued to struggle, with Dana refusing to let her go and get involved in the struggle. That was until Veronica managed to bring up her arm, elbowing the girl in the face in a slightly violent manner for the young witch who was normally so pacifistic in nature. Apparently, in that moment, her concern for her twin sister overruled her peaceful nature. As Dana stumbled slightly, Veronica had an opportunity to escape from the girl's tight grasp, which she obviously took. Dashing forwards before Dana could pull her back again, she quickly made it to her sister's side, noticing the large bite mark on her neck that was surrounded by an all too familiar scarlet liquid. Veronica knelt down, ready to allow her medical instincts to take over in order to try and work on the wound, before Stefan allowed his hands to get in the way and he looked back at her with a soft expression.

"She's alive, but barely. I can save her." Stefan stated. "Do you trust me?" Veronica looked at the vampire, considering his question for a few moments, as she gave a small and shaking nod in response to him. Stefan almost immediately proceeded to pull down his jacket sleeve, biting into his wrist. The girl watched in confusion as he placed his bitten wrist over Bonnie's partially open mouth, a small gasp falling from Veronica's lips as the large wound on Bonnie's neck began to slowly heal, her eyes widening.

"Her neck… it's healing." Elena breathed, her voice full of as much disbelief as Veronica was feeling in that moment, as the Bennett witch looked at the vampire, attempting to give him a small smile.

"Thank you, Stefan."

* * *

Veronica placed her jacket around her sister's shoulders, knowing that the blood loss that her sister had experienced would make her weak. She wanted to make sure that her sister was as safe as she could possibly be, even if that just meant protecting her from the cold. Bonnie took the jacket from her sister, giving her a small grateful look, before her attention returned to Elena. "I don't understand, Elena, what happened to me? He attacked me, and his face was like..." Bonnie asked softly, her voice trembling as she trailed off, Veronica lightly and supportively placing a hand on her upper arm to try and give her all the comfort that she possibly could. To say that she was now incredibly worried about her sister wouldn't truly cover how much she feared for her in that moment.

"How do you feel? Are you okay?" Elena asked, evidently feeling just as worried about the Bennett witch as her sister was, as Bonnie gave a small and shaky nod in response.

"I'm fine. It's just this blood. I don't..." The witch trailed off as Dana and Stefan approached the pair, with Veronica noticing the way that her sister tensed as the vampires approached, something that Stefan also noticed.

"I'm not gonna hurt you." Stefan reassured the girl, as she soon looked to Dana, as the vampire rolled her eyes at Bonnie's glance.

"Fine. I promise that I won't attack you, Bon Bon. I keep my word." Dana reassured her. "Besides, I'm busy recovering. You have a hell of a swing on you, Ronnie. I'm proud. You actually shocked me for a few moments there." The vampire added on a joking tone, as Veronica allowed a small and nervous scoff to fall from her lips.

"Thanks." Veronica responded in a slightly awkward tone, deciding that it probably wouldn't be a good idea to ask where Damon was.

"What's going on?" Bonnie asked, looking mostly between her sister and Elena, a look of pure confusion held in her eyes.

"Well, isn't that a question and a half?" Dana jokingly inquired, earning her a small discouraging look from Stefan once more, and a small exasperated sigh from Bonnie. Upon seeing the responses from Bonnie and Stefan, the vampire placed her hands up in mock surrender as she proceeded to take a few steps backwards. "Right, well, seeing as no one here is appreciating me, I'm going to find Damon. See you later." The vampire bid the group farewell before she proceeded to turn on her heel and head off deeper in the woods, a small sigh falling from Veronica's lips as she did so.

"I'll explain everything, Bonnie. Okay? Let's just get out of here." Elena's voice pulled the young girl out of her thoughts. "Veronica, do you mind?" The girl requested, gesturing in the direction of the car to suggest that she wanted her help getting Bonnie into the car, as the Bennett witch gave a small nod in response.

"Of course." Veronica responded, giving her sister a small smile, as she lightly placed her arm around her. "Come on, Bon." She spoke softly to her, beginning to lead her over in the direction of the car, when Elena's voice caused her to look back at the girl for a few moments.

"Thank you. For everything." Elena spoke softly, as Veronica responded with her usual gentle smile and a small nod, not being too sure what she was even thanking her for.

"Don't mention it." Veronica responded before returning her attention to guiding her very terrified and scared sister towards the car, hoping that she would be able to cope with the sudden change to her reality through what Elena was going to tell her.

Although, on the upside, perhaps Veronica wouldn't have to be so alone anymore now that her sister knew about the vampires.

 **AN: And I'm going to end it there! Thank you so much for reading, I hope that you enjoyed! Once again, I just want to thank everyone for all the support that they've shown this story, the positive feedback that I've gotten from it has been incredible. I'm so glad that you guys like reading about Veronica and Dana and their little adventures! Anyway, please leave a review to let me know what you thought of this chapter, and I'll see you on Friday for the next update! Alaric will appear again in that chapter, just to let all you people who already like Veronica and Alaric's relationship know!**


	23. Chapter 22: A Boy Like You

**AN: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, any of the characters or the plot, that belongs to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. I solely own Dana and Veronica. All rights go to their original owners.**

The younger Bennett sister took a small step into the classroom, her hands casually slipping into the pockets of her coat once she had thrown the empty cup of coffee that she had been drinking from before she'd entered the room into the bin. Slowly, the young girl approached the stand that had been set up as part of the career evening, with it being the only stand that she was really interested in.

The medical careers stand.

The man that was stood behind the stand gave her a small smile as she approached the stand, with the witch responding with a small and polite smile of her own before she picked up one of the many leaflets that had been placed on the table to advertise the many medical schools throughout the country. Her brown eyes began to read the words that were printed carefully, before the sound of a male voice reached her ears.

"So, you were returned by your kidnapper then." A familiar voice commented, causing her to look up from the leaflet and look over her shoulder, a small shy smile forming on her expression when she saw Alaric stood a few inches behind her with a bright smile on his face. Veronica softly laughed at his words, as she turned to face him.

"Yeah. I'm sorry about that, that's just what Dana's like. She's not exactly the best at being subtle. When she wants to do something… she does it." The Bennett witch answered in a slightly awkward manner, as the male scoffed gently.

"You can say that again." He replied in a light hearted tone, causing the witch to quietly laugh once more. "I'm just glad that she returned you, I thought I'd have to go to the cops or something. What did she want that was that urgent, anyway?" Veronica tensed slightly at his question, knowing that she couldn't give him a truthful answer without him thinking that she was insane and she was awful at lying most of the time.

"Oh, just some family stuff." Veronica answered simply as she picked up another one of the leaflets from the table. Her eyes studied it for a few moments, before the male's voice once again brought her out of her reading.

"So, you're interested in becoming a doctor then? Or is this all just research?" Alaric asked as the witch looked up at him, giving a small nod in response.

"I, um, I've sort of always wanted to be one." She admitted quietly, bringing her lower lip between her teeth in a shy manner as the sound of her heart pounding loudly within her chest echoed into her ears. "So, if you have a medical emergency at any point, you know who to come to." The witch jokingly commented, earning her a crooked smile from the man and a small chuckle from deep within his throat.

"Oh, I'll bear that in mind, Miss Bennett." Alaric responded in a playful manner, as he followed the girl as she moved out of the way of the group of people that clearly wanted to access the stand that she had just been at, with the witch taking a moment to place her leaflets into the satchel bag that she had draped over her shoulder.

"Good. So, is there a reason that you're here? Is our class that horrible that you're looking for a new career already?" The witch curiously inquired as she approached the classroom door, coming to a stop as she turned back to face the teacher, making sure that she wasn't in the way of anyone that might want to enter the room as she did so. Alaric laughed at her slightly sarcastic comment, as he gave a small shrug of his shoulders in response.

"Yes, Veronica, you figured it out. Especially you. You're the worst of the lot." He sarcastically responded to her words, causing the witch to playfully pout in response. She was honestly incredibly surprised that she'd actually managed to get through this long of a conversation with the teacher without making an idiot out of herself.

"That's me. Veronica the troublemaker." She replied, her dark coloured eyes looking up at him for a few moments, before a sound of a shout and a thud from the hallway reached her ears. The witch turned on her heel to try and find out what was going on, her eyes widening as she saw Jeremy fighting with Tyler at the far end of the hallway. Almost immediately, the witch ran as quickly as she could, using the small amount of strength that she had to force her way through the crowd. She soon grasped hold of Jeremy's shoulders and attempted to pull him away from Tyler, managing to create a small gap between the two fighting boys as a result, but it didn't appear to diffuse the tension.

Her brown eyes glared at Tyler as she attempted to continue to worm her way between the two, before Jeremy and Tyler were both forcefully pulled away from each other by someone who was clearly much stronger than her. It took her a few moments to realise that it was Alaric and Tyler's father that had broken up the fight, with Alaric grasping hold of Jeremy and Mayor Lockwood grabbing hold of his son. Veronica's eyes met Alaric as he looked away from Jeremy for a few moments in order to study her for a few moments.

"Are you alright?" The teacher asked with a slight hint of concern held in his voice, as Veronica gave a small nod in response to his question. Her attention almost immediately went to Jeremy as the boy continued to angrily glare at Tyler and attempted to struggle against Alaric's restraint, causing the teacher to return his focus to the boy and holding him back. "Alright, work it out, tough guy!" He commanded in a tone of authority, as Veronica looked to Jeremy, watching as the boy hesitantly began to calm down.

"You two, follow me. Miss Bennett, you too." Mayor Lockwood's calm and stern voice instructed, causing the witch to tense slightly, not expecting that she too would be getting yelled at by the Mayor. All she had been doing was attempting to break up the fight before Jeremy had gotten hurt, she hadn't done anything wrong as far as she could figure out. But regardless, Veronica chose not to voice her disagreement to prevent herself from getting into any further trouble, as she, Tyler and Jeremy solemnly went to follow after the mayor. Veronica bowed her head slightly in embarrassment as she walked with her steps being noticeably heavier than usual. Bonnie was probably going to kill her for getting into trouble, especially with the mayor of the whole town. The witch was brought out of her worries about how her sister might react to this when she heard Alaric's voice.

"Excuse me, Mayor." The teacher began, causing the group of four to stop abruptly in their path, looking back at the male soon afterwards. "Where are you taking them?" He inquired, with his eyes mostly lingering on Veronica and Jeremy as he spoke.

"I'm gonna talk to them. All fights should end in handshakes, don't you think? And, I just wish to have a quick word with Miss Bennett. It won't take long." The mayor answered, with a clearly facetious smile forming on his expression, something that caused Veronica to look back at Alaric with a look of clear hesitation held in her eyes. The witch hesitantly turned back to face the Mayor soon afterwards, wrapping her arms around herself tightly as she slowly walked with Jeremy after the Mayor, wondering where on earth he was planning on taking them.

Her question was soon answered as the group of four came to a stop in the abandoned and dimly lit school parking lot, with the Mayor turning to Veronica first. "Now, Veronica. That is your name, correct?" He began, causing the young woman to softly nod in response, her brown eyes looking up at him in slight terror. She didn't like the serious look that he wore on his expression. "It's very admirable that you wish to protect your friend. But, let me teach you a little lesson. I think that in future, you should learn to keep yourself to yourself, is that understood? It would be so much easier for you and everyone else involved if you did that." The male spoke coldly, as the witch felt a look of confusion soon form on her expression. Hesitantly, the Bennett witch gave a small nod in response to his words, although she knew that no matter what the male said to her, she would get involved and intervene if it meant protecting her best friend. It was just who she was, no amount of threatening could stop that.

The Mayor's fake smile once again returned at her small nod. "Good. Now, go back inside, and tell no one what we talked about." He instructed coldly, before turning back to face Jeremy and Tyler almost immediately. The witch stood there for a few moments, curious about what exactly it was that the male was planning on saying to the two boys. She got the feeling that it wasn't going to be very helpful, and her desire to keep Jeremy safe and out of trouble far overwhelmed her own want to stay out of trouble. "Okay, let's get this out of your system. Go ahead. Fight." The Mayor instructed, causing Veronica's eyes to widen and a noticeable look of confusion to appear on Jeremy and Tyler's expressions. Apparently, no one else thought that was a good idea.

"You want us to what?" Jeremy questioned in a confused tone, his brown eyes flicking between the Mayor and his best friend. When his eyes met hers, the witch shook her head to signal to him that he shouldn't go along with this and should back down now, even though she was pretty sure that he could figure that out on his own. He wasn't an idiot.

"I'm not gonna fight him, dad." Tyler responded, in a manner that actually rather surprised the Bennett girl. Perhaps Tyler wasn't quite as harsh as he seemed.

"I don't think so, sir." Jeremy added on, attempting to walk around the Mayor. However, the man soon stepped in his way, clearly very determined to make sure that the boys fought, causing the Bennett girl to take a few steps forwards in a rather hesitant manner to show that she was more than willing to get involved if necessary.

"You don't fight in there like pansies. You take it outside, fight your battles like men, and move on. Best lesson my dad taught me. So let's settle it. Fight." The mayor instructed, with a slight hint of anger held in his tone. At his words, Veronica realised that he wasn't going to back down on this, and thus she finally reached Jeremy's side, grasping hold of the boy's wrist softly.

"Jeremy, come on. Let's go." She commented, hoping in her optimistic nature that her words would bring about the end of the conversation. However when the Mayor shot her a noticeable glare and he lightly pushed her away from Jeremy, causing the witch to stumble slightly, she realised that she had been wrong about that.

"Stay out of things that don't concern you, you nosy little harlot, or you'll regret it. Now go back inside!" He hissed angrily at her. The venom in his voice caused the witch to tense and look up at him with a slight hint of hurt in her eyes. Her expression soon turned to fear as he turned back to Jeremy and Tyler. She didn't want to use the very little magic that she had picked up, fearing that she might cause the Mayor some form of harm if she did so, but if he was determined to provoke the boys into fighting then she would have no choice. As Tyler went to attempt to move and leave the conversation, the Mayor shoved the boy backwards. This knocked him into Jeremy, as he instructed aggressively, "I said fight!" The witch went to intervene once more by opening her mouth, before the sound of a very familiar male voice reached her ears.

"Whoa. What's going on out here?" Alaric inquired, as the witch and the mayor looked back at the teacher with notably different expressions, Veronica backing up slightly so that she was once again close to Jeremy, her protective nature evident in that moment.

"Just letting these two kids work it out. We're good here. Go back inside. Miss Bennett will be joining you in a few moments, won't you, Miss Bennett?" The Mayor asked, looking back to Veronica with a very noticeable flare of anger in his eyes, as the witch looked nervously back to Alaric and continued to stand protectively in front of Jeremy.

"I don't wanna go back inside. What I want is an answer to my question." Alaric responded, clearly not afraid of standing up to the male, causing the mayor to look back at him. "What's going on out here?" Alaric repeated his question as he approached the group of four, a clear look of determination held on his expression. He was going to get answers, no matter what.

"Who do you think you're talking to? Do I look like a student?" The mayor asked, earning a small eye roll from Veronica, not surprised that he would try and use his status to get out of this situation.

"No." Alaric answered simply, a small scoff soon falling from his lips at the male's response. "You look like a full grown alpha male douchebag who doesn't know how to respect and treat women properly." Veronica's eyes widened once more at the defiance of the male, as she had never seen someone so boldly stand up to the Mayor before, as most people were too afraid of the authority figure to do so. A slight smirk pulled at Jeremy's lips as a result of the teacher's words, with the young boy clearly finding the situation to be very amusing, whilst the Mayor clearly was not very amused by Alaric's response.

"You don't talk to me like that. I can have your job like this." The Mayor threatened with a click of his fingers, with Alaric merely just laughing once more, clearly not fazed in the slightest. Whilst Veronica would have been crying on the floor by now, or at the very least slightly afraid of the male's threat, Alaric wasn't scared at all. If anything, he just seemed amused like Jeremy was.

"Ah, you do that. Then it will be you and me in this parking lot, working things out. You cool with that?" Alaric responded, in an almost threatening tone of his own, taking a few steps towards the other man almost as though he was trying to intimidate him. His eyes looked up at the Mayor with an expression of pure defiance held in his gaze, something that caused Veronica to softly shiver, mentally reminding herself to never anger the history teacher.

"You just marked yourself." The mayor stated coldly, pointing at the history teacher, who softly chuckled once more as a small and slight smirk pulled at his lips.

"Okay." Alaric answered in a sarcastic tone, causing a small nervous scoff to fall from the Bennett witch. Richard shot a small glare in the direction of Veronica and Jeremy. His gaze caused the younger Bennett twin to slightly tense, fearing that he was about to say something else before his attention turned to Tyler almost immediately. He gestured for his son to follow him, something that Tyler hesitantly did. The witch found herself being hit with a sensation of sympathy for Tyler for the first time, as she had never thought that his father would be that horrible or cruel to him.

However, her attention was soon pulled back to Alaric as the teacher spoke. "You two all right?" He asked, looking between Veronica and Jeremy. Failing to hide the obvious smirk that was still held on his expression, Jeremy gave a small nod in response to his question. His softened brown eyes went down to Veronica soon afterwards, giving her a small smile.

"Thanks for your help, Ronica. Mr Saltzman." Jeremy commented, causing the witch to softly and kindly smile at him upon hearing him use her nickname once more. Her eyes stayed on him as he proceeded to walk forwards, clearly wanting to head back inside. As the boy headed towards the back door that led back into the school, Veronica turned back to face Alaric with a tiny smile held on her lips.

"Thank you." She spoke softly to him, as she took a few steps towards him. "I mean it. Thank you. You didn't have to stick up for him, but I really appreciate you for doing so." As the witch approached the male, her brown eyes noticed the large ring that the male had on his hand, with it being large and black and intricately decorated. The simple design reminded her oddly of the rings that Dana, Stefan and Damon wore, the daylight rings that enabled them to walk in the sun. She tensed slightly at that thought, her brown eyes soon looking back up at the male, noticing the bright smile that he wore on his expression as a result of the girl's words.

"You're very welcome." Alaric responded, as he lightly placed a hand on the girl's shoulder, a breath of relief falling from her lips when she didn't feel the familiar cold sensation that she experienced each time she touched one of the Salvatores. Did that mean he wasn't a vampire? She wasn't too sure how everything in her new supernatural world worked quite yet. "I couldn't just let him say those things about you. I'm a history teacher, it's my job to correct facts." The male jokingly commented, causing a small and slightly nervous laugh to fall from Veronica's lips soon afterwards as she tried her hardest not to freak out about the man touching her arm.

Now that the initial relief of him not being a vampire had faded, her heart was racing in her chest at the fact that he was actually touching her, the presence of his warm hand against her upper arm oddly comforting. The girl's brown eyes looked up at him for a few moments, almost getting lost in the intense colour of his eyes, before the sound of a call of her name almost instantly snapped her out of her thoughts. She looked away from the taller male to look in the direction of the voice that had called her name, a small and slightly hesitant smile pulling at her lips as she saw Dana approaching her, the large smirk on the vampire's lips causing her to partially tense as she reached the pair. Was Dana going to say something else to embarrass her once more?

"Well, this is where you are, Ronnie." The vampire teased, with a playful tone in her voice. Her bright coloured eyes lingered on Alaric for a few moments, causing the Bennett witch to let out a small awkward cough and her face to almost automatically heat up. Her awkward side was finally beginning to kick in as her eyes soon looked down at her sneakers soon afterwards to hide the slight blush on her cheeks. "Hi, Ric." Dana greeted the teacher in her usual casual and flippant manner. "Don't suppose you mind giving me and Veronica a moment, do you? I'd really appreciate it." Alaric looked at the vampire for a few moments, before he gave a small and soft nod in response to her words that Veronica noticed through her thick curtain of dark coloured and messy hair.

"Sure. I'll… I'll see you inside, Veronica." Alaric bid the young witch farewell with a gentle crooked smile on his lips, before he proceeded to head inside, leaving the slightly embarrassed and awkward Bennett witch with the vampire. Nervously, Veronica looked back at Dana with some of her hair still covering her face, as the Salvatore girl allowed a suggestive look to form on her expression.

"So, you two are adorable. I'm sorry for interrupting your little make-out session with your cute little teacher boyfriend, but I needed to talk to you." Dana responded, causing Veronica to tense and her blush to noticeably deepen in response to her words.

"He's… He's not my boyfriend. He's just my teacher. The mayor was mad at Jeremy for fighting with Tyler again, and mad at me for intervening, and Mr Saltzman just so happened to stick up for the both of us. Cause he's nice." Veronica responded, causing the vampire to merely scoff in response, a clear look of disbelief forming on her expression. Veronica sighed in response, not wanting to spend any time justifying the truth to Dana, her attention once again returning to Dana when the girl spoke soon afterwards.

"Anyway, love interests aside, I have something to tell you. Stefan's got it into his head that the three of us leaving town is a good idea, so he's forcing us to go within the next few days. He really loves just dropping things on me. We've got something to sort out first, involving the ever charming and creepy news reporter, and then we'll be gone. You can go back to doing your witchy things, and I guess that I'll have to find another Bennett witch to stalk, won't I?" Dana asked in a joking tone, causing Veronica's head to tilt slightly in pure curiosity. She'd never listened to anything that Stefan had said before, why was she suddenly listening to him now? And what had she meant when she was talking about a news reporter? Did she mean Logan, the guy that had been harassing Jenna a few weeks ago?

"Never thought you'd actually listen to Stefan." Veronica decided to voice her first query about the news of the girl, as Dana allowed yet another scoff to fall from her lips.

"Most of the time, I don't." She answered simply, giving a small shrug of her shoulders. "Because most of the time, he's trying to lecture me and make me into a better person, which I don't need because I'm perfectly fine as I am, thank you. I don't need morals, it takes the fun out of everything. But. Very rarely, and I mean _very_ rarely, he's right. Since the three of us arrived in this town, more people have died or been placed in danger than in the entire year. Most of them were innocent. Zach, as dull as he was, didn't deserve to die. Caroline, despite being incredibly obnoxious, didn't deserve what Damon did to her. Sure, Logan is a complete and utter idiot who I would probably have killed already if I didn't have Stefan breathing down my neck, but he's a vampire now. No idea how, but it's probably something to do with us. Damon's caused a ridiculous amount of trouble, and the only way to get him to leave town is to leave with him. That's Stefan the genius' logic anyway." Dana continued to speak, completely ignoring the look of confusion that had formed on Veronica's expression as a result of her long and complicated ramble. Her brain attempted to make sense out of her words, only being able to focus on one thing at a time.

Logan was a vampire?

"I…." Veronica began, raking a hand through her messy hair soon afterwards. "I have no idea what to say in response to that." She admitted softly, still adjusting to the many bombshells that the girl had dropped on her in her explanation of Stefan's reasoning. "You should tell me these things, you know? Not just drop them on me at the last moment. Is there anything that you want to drop on me before you leave?" Veronica asked, causing a smirk that only added to the Bennett girl's worry to soon form on Dana's expression.

"Oh, there's a lot of things that I want to tell you, Ronnie. But, I quite like the idea of being this grand enigma that you spend your entire life trying to solve. Besides, some things are left unsaid, don't you agree? It's so much more interesting that way." Dana replied in a rather teasing tone, causing Veronica to lightly roll her eyes, before she lightly placed her arms around the vampire and caused Dana to tense. She was clearly not expecting the sudden affection from the girl.

"You're so infuriating, but I'll miss you, Dana." Veronica admitted softly, causing Dana to softly chuckle, slowly and hesitantly returning the hug that the witch gave her. The slow nature of her actions evidently showed that it had been a while since she'd shown any real affection to anyone, but Veronica didn't mind.

"It's why you love me, Ronnie." Dana answered as she slowly pulled away from the girl, looking down at her soon afterwards. "So, before I go and help Stefan with the Logan search, can you promise me one last thing?" The vampire requested softly, causing Veronica to softly nod, rather intrigued about what it was that the vampire wanted from her. "When I'm gone, and you finally find your confidence, you know that teacher? Jump his bones. I've been around a long time, Ron. I've been with quite a few guys, but to be fair to him, he seems like one of the nicer ones. He doesn't come across as being a massive dick. And anyway, he's intriguing to me. Another enigma for you to obsess over. Sound good?" Dana asked, laughing as she noticed the furious shade of red that the witch had gone from pure embarrassment, causing her to lightly pat the girl on the shoulder. "Invite me to your wedding, Ron." She teased playfully, before the sound of Stefan's voice reached the ears of both of the girls.

"Dana?" Stefan called out, earning an eye roll from Dana.

"Coming, oh darling cousin of mine!" Dana called back, shooting a grin in the direction of the Bennett witch. "Stefan and I have got this, Ron, don't look quite so worried. I'll see you around." Dana commented with the smirk still evident on her lips, before she soon disappeared from sight, leaving behind the very embarrassed Bennett witch in the parking lot by herself.

 **AN: And I'm going to end it there! Thank you very much for reading, I hope that you enjoyed! This was a slightly longer chapter, so hopefully you enjoyed it! Let me know if you enjoy the longer chapters or the shorter ones, I'm interested! Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed the little Alaric and Veronica moment, from your reviews you seem to rather like them so far so hopefully this one lived up to the standard of the others! Let me know if you're enjoying the moments! Anyway, if you have a moment, please leave me a review to let me know what you thought and I'll see you in the next one on Monday!**


	24. Chapter 23: American Psycho

**AN: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, any of the characters or the plot, that belongs to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. I solely own Dana and Veronica. All rights go to their original owners.**

Veronica allowed a sigh to fall from her lips as she proceeded to slump down onto her bed, her dark coloured eyes looking up at the ceiling. She had originally planned that her evening would just be a simple trip down to the careers evening to learn more about medical schools, but apparently not. As seemed to be the usual trend lately, things had gotten dramatic incredibly quickly, with Veronica's own personality preventing her from staying out of these things. She wished that she could just learn what it was that the mayor had told her, that she could stay out of things that weren't her business. She wished that she could allow Jeremy to cause fights and live with the consequences and keep herself to herself, but she couldn't. Sure, she might be incredibly shy and awkward, but when it came to Jeremy, he was her best friend. Elena had her own issues, as did Jenna, so someone had to stick up for Jeremy. It might as well be her.

The Bennett girl was soon snapped out of her thoughts when her phone began to vibrate on her bedside table, causing her to slowly pick it up. A look of slight bemusement soon formed on her expression as she saw that it was Dana that was calling her, with her soon accepting the call as her curiosity once again got the better of her. "Hello?" She inquired.

"Ron! It's your favourite Salvatore here." Dana's cynical tones informed the Bennett girl through the phone, causing her to softly scoff in response. "I need you to do me another favour."

"When don't you need a favour from me, Dana?" Veronica inquired as she slowly sat upright, her hand running through her messy dark brown hair as she did so.

"Do I detect a hint of sarcasm in that kind tone of yours, Miss Bennett?" Dana asked in a joking tone, a small laugh soon falling from her lips. "Well, that aside, basically, we entrusted Damon with killing Logan. And by we, I mean Stefan. Because clearly, even an idiot could tell that's a horrific plan that won't end well. Damon's not exactly known for doing what he's told. Anyway, Logan's apparently been hanging out in some warehouses during the day cause he doesn't have a daylight ring like we do. Do you know where that is?" She asked, finally silencing herself as she waited for a response from the young witch.

"Yeah, it's on the outskirts of town, they've been owned by the Fell family for generations. Caroline used to try to dare me to go inside the ones that were left unlocked, cause they're really creepy." Veronica answered her question softly, earning her a small teasing laugh from Dana in response.

"Well, as much as I hate to traumatise you, I'd be ever so grateful if you were to head down to the warehouses and make sure that Logan dearest is actually dead. I don't trust Damon in the slightest. I would do it myself, but I'm busy being traumatised. I mean, Stefan and Elena are casually banging in the room next door, and cause of my advanced hearing, I can literally hear everything and I want to vomit. And anyway, I'm also on Damon patrol, so I can't go. Pretty please?" Dana responded, causing Veronica to softly sigh to herself, choosing to focus more on what Dana had just asked her to do rather then the revelation of what Stefan and Elena were supposedly up to.

"And if he's not dead?" Veronica questioned, as she slowly and hesitantly got onto her feet. "I know what you're like and what you can do. You move quickly, and you're about a million times faster and more powerful than I am. Is… Is this part of some plan of yours to get me horrifically mauled?" Dana scoffed in response to her question, the gesture clearly being mocking in nature.

"Now, Veronica Bennett, why would you ever think that? Don't suppose you've noticed, but you're the closest thing that I've had to a best friend in the past forty years, you don't get to die on me quite yet. Scope out the place first. If you have any suspicions that Logan is still alive, then you run. Don't look back. I'll deal with it. I'm more than used to killing people, it's not an issue." Dana instructed with an unusually serious tone contained within her voice, causing Veronica's expression to soften slightly.

"You sound almost as if you care about me, Dana." Veronica spoke, a small sigh of clear hesitancy soon falling from her lips. "But, fine. I'll do it, if you promise me one thing. Before you leave town, and I possibly never see you again, I want you to tell me some things about yourself. I won't force you to give up that whole enigma thing, but I need to know some things or else I'll go insane." Dana's end of the call went silent for a few moments, suggesting to the Bennett witch that she was either thinking about Veronica's bargain or that she had just gotten up and left the phone. Either one was plausible for Dana.

"Fine." Dana's hesitant voice soon snapped her out of her thoughts, her abrupt manner of speaking causing Veronica to jump slightly. "But, if you'll excuse me, I'll have to go and find some decent earplugs before I get even more emotionally scarred than I already am. Laters." Before Veronica could even attempt to respond to anything that the girl had said or to thank her for agreeing to tell her more about herself, Dana soon proceeded to end the call, the sound of a slightly too high pitched noise informing her that Dana had hung up. Veronica soon also terminated the call, as she placed her phone into her pocket.

She knew that she probably shouldn't have agreed to this, and that if Logan caught sight of her, she would almost definitely be dead within moments. Even with her powers, she wouldn't be strong enough to take down a vampire. But yet, she knew that now that she had given Dana her word, she would have to go and investigate. Perhaps, just for once, Damon had actually done what he was told and she wouldn't be in any danger at all. She just to have hope, she supposed.

Allowing a small exhale of breath to soon fall from her lips, the young woman grabbed hold of her jacket, pulling it on before she soon left her room. The sound of Bonnie's music softly playing in her room soon informed her that she would be able to sneak in and out with little trouble, something that slightly reduced the stress of what she was about to do. Slipping her hands into her pockets and making sure that she had her house key so that she would be able to get back in, the girl walked quickly down the stairs and soon headed out of the door, shutting it behind her in an almost silent manner.

* * *

It didn't take Veronica long to reach the warehouses, her quick walking pace causing her to become slightly out of breath, but that didn't really bother her in that particular moment. All that was bothering her at that moment in time was making sure that Logan and his advanced vampire abilities didn't creep up on her, if he was even still alive.

As she was about to round the corner to the front of the warehouses, the sound of a familiar male voice caused her to tense, almost immediately hiding back where she had been before. Her heart was beating so quickly that Veronica was almost afraid that it would burst through her chest, as the witch clasped her hand over her mouth to muffle her panting, not wanting to take any risks. "Who are you?" Logan's voice inquired, as the witch fearfully turned back, slightly peering around the edge of the building so that she could see who Logan was talking to. She initially assumed that he was talking to Damon, or perhaps even Dana, and her eyes only widened as she saw who was really stood in front of Logan.

 _Alaric_.

Fear almost immediately flooded through the girl at the sight of her history teacher stood a few inches in front of the vampire, with her not knowing what she could do to save him without getting herself into trouble. The male had no idea what he was getting into, and he could quite easily get himself hurt or killed. The witch found herself being almost paralysed into her position as her dark eyes stayed trained on the scene before her, just wishing with all that she had that the teacher would get out of here before Logan hurt him or killed him.

"A friend of Jenna's." Alaric answered simply, seemingly unafraid of the slightly foreboding situation that he had managed to find himself in. He apparently truly did have no idea what was going on in this town.

"Jenna sent you?" Logan inquired. Although Veronica couldn't see the face of the vampire due to him having his back to her, she could guess from the tone of his voice that he was slightly confused about Alaric's motivations in coming here, as was Veronica if she was truly honest. Although she was well aware of the fact that Logan had been harassing Jenna and desperately trying to get a date with her, she didn't understand why Alaric felt the need to get involved. Unless, she supposed, that he was… attracted to her or something? Almost immediately, the witch dismissed the thought. Now was not the time for having internal debates about whether her history teacher liked her best friend's aunt, she had to be focused. Getting lost in her thoughts in this situation might be the difference between life and death.

"No, I came on my own." Alaric replied, his eyes almost glaring at Logan, a small noise of understanding soon fell from the vampire's lips shortly after Alaric had finished speaking.

"Ah, I get it. Well, buddy, I know you think this makes you brave. But actually it makes you pretty stupid." Logan responded with a clear arrogant nature held in his voice, with Veronica being more than able to imagine the smirk that must be pulling at his lips right now. Alaric softly sighed in response to his words, clearly not caring very much about what he had to say to him. He displayed the same flippant mannerisms that he'd displayed whilst talking to the mayor earlier, practically radiating off confidence in a conversation where he truly shouldn't have had the upper hand.

"Either way, here I am." Alaric answered in a slightly casual manner, with Veronica just being even more confused about what he was up to in that moment. The tension between the pair was ridiculously high, how was he managing to be so calm?

"What do you want?" Logan demanded to know before Veronica had a chance to spend much time thinking about the motivations behind this meeting in the middle of the night once again. Once again, she tried to move, wanting to at the very least distract the vampire to give Alaric a chance to get out of there but she couldn't. Almost every muscle in her body seemed to have taken that moment to completely tense and seize up, making her almost feel as though she were paralysed.

"Jenna's a good person and she deserves the best. I'm here to make sure she gets it." Alaric answered simply, his voice almost seeming to contain a slight hint of protectiveness towards Elena's aunt.

"Was that supposed to be a threat?" Logan inquired, as he finally began to move, circling around Alaric soon afterwards, with Veronica finally being able to see the clearly smug look that was held on his expression. "Couldn't you… throw a punch? Maybe provoke me a little?" The male challenged Alaric, as the history teacher scoffed and also moved slightly so that he was once again stood directly in front of Logan, with Veronica now being able to see clearly what the pair were doing. A small laugh fell from Alaric's lips in response to the words of the male, as he responded with,

"I'm not a violent guy by design." His eyes lingered on Logan, with him soon gaining a confident stance as he stood strong in front of the vampire.

"Well, you're not a very smart one, either." Logan answered dismissively, the smirk on his lips slightly growing as the sense of concern within Veronica slowly began to grow the same amount, fearful of what he might be planning on doing.

"How's that?" Alaric inquired, as Logan turned on his heel to stand with his back to the teacher, somehow not managing to see the Bennett witch stood mere inches away from him, the action showing that he clearly was paying more attention to Alaric than anything else in that moment in time.

"Cause you have no idea who you're talking to." Logan responded, as Veronica's hand fell away from her mouth upon seeing the vampire's eyes begin to darken, the familiar veins underneath his eyes showing that he was planning on attacking the teacher. Before the witch had a chance to do anything or even let out a scream of Alaric's name to caution him, Logan let out a growl, and turned back to face Alaric, going to attack him before a shocking turn of events unfolded. Alaric raised what appeared to be a wooden stake in his right hand, as he soon pushed it into Logan's chest, clearly aiming for his heart. Both Veronica and the vampire let out surprised gasps as Logan stumbled backwards, his skin being covered in noticeable veins, almost as if it were drying out as his skin soon turned a noticeable shade of grey. As the vampire dropped motionless to the floor, the Bennett witch felt pure panic and shock rush through her veins as she attempted to understand what she had just seen.

Alaric knew about the vampires.

And the fact that he had a stake seemed to imply… he was a vampire hunter?

Veronica's eyes widened at her own revelation, as her eyes looked up from Logan's unmoving body. She found herself tensing once more as her dark eyes met Alaric's, soon seeing the worry and almost fear that was contained within the dark blue eyes of the teacher as he realised that she had seen what he had just done. Almost as though it were an automatic reaction, the girl stumbled backwards for a few moments. After fully taking back control over herself, she soon turned on her heel and dashed off as quickly as she could manage, hearing the teacher calling out to her and begging for her to wait so that he could explain.

But in that moment, as the Bennett witch dashed back to her house, the adrenaline coursing through her veins only adding to the fight or flight response she was currently experiencing, she found herself no longer caring about answers or hearing what the male had to say. She just had to get out of that situation now that she finally had control over her muscles back.

Besides, even if he did give her answers, there was no guarantee that he could be trusted or that anything he said could be believed. It was much safer for her to run home and process what the events that she had witnessed meant in her own time, both for her and the vampire girl that she had befriended and her family. As a result, the girl didn't stop running, no matter how much her legs and heart were complaining about her doing so, until she had reached her bedroom after locking the front door of the house behind her. In pure exhaustion, she slumped down onto her bed, panting furiously for air and feeling sick to her stomach. Her wide eyes looked up at the ceiling once more as she tried her hardest to process the information, knowing that there were some pretty important things that she would have to decide now.

What the hell was she going to do?

 **AN: And I'm going to end it there! Thank you very much for reading, I hope that you enjoyed! This chapter was slightly shorter than the last one, apologies for that, but I hope that you liked it anyway! This one was much more eventful than the last one! Anyway, please let me know what you thought of this chapter and I will see you on Friday for the next update!**


	25. Chapter 24: Stop, Breathe, Count To 3

**AN: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, any of the characters or the plot, that belongs to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. I solely own Dana and Veronica. All rights go to their original owners. If anyone is slightly confused, the first section of this chapter is from Alaric's journal.**

 _I found one._

 _After years of research and study, there it was right in front of me. I was terrified. As I stared it in the eyes, I drove a stake through its heart. I was right about Mystic Falls. There is evil here. I can sense it. Feel it. It's everywhere._

 _There's been a complication, however. One of my students, she saw me stake the creature. She was terrified of me. It was the one that I've written about before- Veronica Bennett, the girl with the large brown eyes. I'm not entirely sure what she was doing at the warehouse that late at night, but regardless, she saw me. She ran off before I got a chance to explain what I was doing, why I do this. But, I'm aiming to catch up with her today, and hopefully, she'll understand. She strikes me as an empathetic soul, so hopefully she'll be willing to listen to the tales of an old man and understand._

 _I'm just a little bit screwed if she doesn't._

* * *

Veronica tucked some of her dark coloured hair behind her ear as she walked around in front of the high school with Jeremy by her side, the slight tremble of her hands barely noticeable to anyone else except from herself. With a small smile on her expression, the young woman was pretty sure that she was doing a fairly convincing job at pretending as though she hadn't seen her history teacher stake a vampire in the parking lot the night before. If she was fully honest with herself, that was something that she was still slightly adjusting to. Alaric, a man who had come across as completely normal, not only knew that vampires existed, but that they lived in Mystic Falls and he knew how to kill them.

From the mere moment that she had gotten home the night before, she'd been having an internal debate that didn't seem to be resolving itself any time soon. Should she tell one of the Salvatores about Alaric? If he truly was a vampire hunter, then what were the odds that he knew about the Salvatores and what they truly were? Damon wasn't exactly too subtle with what he was, shown by the numerous amount of dead bodies that he'd left since he'd arrived in town, and nor was Dana with her constant anger outbursts and her extreme displays of strength. Although she was almost certainly not the biggest fan of Damon, she liked Stefan and knew that Elena cared about him, and Dana was potentially the closest thing that she'd had to a friend in several months. She didn't want any of them to get hurt. But at the same time, although she didn't really know for certain how she felt towards Alaric, she certainly liked him. There was something about him that was different and intriguing to her, and just like a moth to a flame, Veronica had never been able to resist investigating something that interested her. If she was to tell one of the Salvatores, the odds were that they would just resolve the issue by killing Alaric, and she didn't want him to die.

"Veronica?" The sound of Jeremy's voice brought her out of her thoughts, causing her to look up at the taller male by her side, a look of slight confusion held in her dark coloured eyes as she did so.

"Sorry… W-What were you saying?" Veronica questioned, her voice slightly shaking for a few moments before she soon regained control of herself, not wanting to give off to Jeremy that was something wrong. The last thing she wanted was for him to start worrying about her. "I… I got caught up in my thoughts again." At her added comment, a small and slightly mischievous smirk pulled at Jeremy's lips.

"Oh, and what's on your mind today, Ronica? Or should I be asking about _who's_ on your mind?" Jeremy teased, causing the young witch to roll her eyes, once again cursing Dana for making the stupid comment about Alaric in the first place.

"Oh, shush. It's just a test that I have in English today, I know I'm going to fail." Veronica lied in a relatively smooth manner for once, her head gaining a small tilt as Jeremy abruptly came to a halt, his eyes staying on something in the far distance. Veronica soon followed his gaze, feeling nearly her entire body tense as her brown eyes settled on Alaric getting out of his car. Her breath caught in her throat as she stood there for a few moments, watching as the teacher glanced down at his hand and soon proceeded to partially clamber back into his car, apparently looking for something. As the young girl's eyes stayed on the older male, she soon caught sight of Jeremy moving forwards and approaching the male's car, causing her to panic abruptly. "Jeremy!" She hissed as she walked after the male, her walking speed slightly picking up as Jeremy got closer to the man in the car, eventually reaching him. Knowing that it was far too late to back out now as just turning on her heel and running off would probably be the most suspicious thing that she could possibly do, Veronica came to a stop a few inches behind Jeremy, her brown eyes staying solely on Alaric with clear nervousness in her eyes.

"Hey, Mr Saltzman!" Jeremy exclaimed in an oddly cheerful manner for him, causing Alaric to look over his shoulder, his blue eyes slightly widening as he caught sight of Veronica a short distance behind the teenager. The young Bennett girl awkwardly shuffled her feet as the male's eyes lingered on her for a few moments, before his attention went to Jeremy.

"Hey, Jeremy." He greeted the young boy, slightly raising his hand in a small wave. "Hello, Veronica." He added on, apparently not noticing the teasing smirk that was held on Jeremy's lips as his eyes swiftly went from Veronica to Alaric. The young Bennett witch's cheeks heated up as her eyes looked down at the floor, not wanting to make eye contact with the teacher who had caused her to become so afraid the night before. "I, uh...can't find my ring." The male commented as he proceeded to turn back around, and continued to rummage through the car, in a desperate search for his ring. His voice contained a slight element of panic that caused Veronica's eyes to look up once more from her previous gazing at the ground. Her natural compassion overrode the fear that she was feeling in those moments, as she could tell from the way that he spoke about the item that he cared about it. It had some form of sentimental value to him, which something that she could understand and emphasise with.

"Do… Do you want some help? Where did you last see it?" The young Bennett girl inquired softly, her voice holding a slight nervousness as she finally regained control over her feet and took a small step towards the male's silver car. This caused him to look back at her, his usual crooked smile soon appearing on his expression.

"Thank you, Veronica, that would be very helpful." Alaric responded with an air of softness in his voice, before he soon turned back and studied the inside of the car once more. "I took it off for the gym, and thought I put it...there it is!" The male eventually exclaimed, as he turned back to face the pair, letting out a sigh of relief as he soon slipped the large ring back onto his finger. "Losing family heirlooms...bad. Thank you for your offer of help though, Veronica, it was very kind of you." The male stated in a slightly more light hearted tone, the smile on his lips slightly growing as he did so. The young witch's heartrate noticeably went up as her brown eyes lingered on his face for a few moments, a small and timid smile almost instantly pulling at her lips, before she forced herself to look away upon remembering who he was and what she had seen him do.

"You're welcome, sir." She responded in a formal manner, wrapping her arms around herself tightly as she did so, her social awkwardness taking this particular moment to begin to present itself once again. Her dark coloured eyes went to Jeremy temporarily, not liking the teasing look that her best friend held in his eyes as he looked back and forth between the teacher and his best friend. Hoping desperately that the young boy wouldn't say anything to the teacher that might embarrass her, her attention was once again distracted as Alaric gave a slightly awkward cough and lightly scratched the back of his neck.

"Anyway, Jeremy, how's your extra credit coming? You pick a topic yet?" Alaric inquired, finally bringing his focus away from Veronica to look over at the Gilbert boy, allowing his body to slightly rest against the door of his car in an almost casual manner. Dressed once again in shades of dark blue, the teacher had a sort of relaxed air about him, seemingly caused by himself being able to find his ring.

"Mystic Falls, the Civil War era." Jeremy responded to the teacher's question a short time later, lightly fiddling with the light brown strap of his bag on his shoulder. The response from the boy earned a slight look of intrigue from the teacher, causing him to soon inquire,

"What's the angle?" Alaric's head tilted partially as he asked his question.

"My family. I found a journal of an ancestor who lived in the 1800s. And the Gilberts were one of the original Founding Families of Mystic Falls. So..." Jeremy explained the story that Veronica herself had been told a few days ago by him, once her best friend had dug up the old journals, with him soon giving a small and slightly modest shrug of his shoulders. Alaric gave a small and gentle nod in response to Jeremy's words, a small smile being held on his lips as he did so.

"That sounds good." The teacher stated softly, giving another nod in slight approval a short while later, before his blue eyes once again went to Veronica a brief while later. His gaze seemed to be quite serious, making the witch's body freeze with nervousness. "Veronica, if you don't mind, I'd like to have a private word with you at some point. Please." The teacher requested, causing Veronica's entire body to be filled with the same fear that it had been the night before when she'd watched him drive a wooden stake into the local news reporter. Her throat let out a few noises that were somewhere between squeaks and attempted speech, as she tried to regain control of her voice in order to give a response to his request.

"I… I… I can-can't right now. We're… We're going to the library, aren't we, Jer? I'm… I'm helping him with his project." The young witch eventually spoke, her voice coming out as a stuttering mess, only making her appear more flustered. Her brown eyes almost immediately went to Jeremy, seeking his agreement that the pair of them were indeed heading to the library to work on his extra credit work, the sound of her heart pounding within her chest echoing up into her ears and being practically the only thing that she could hear. At her actions, Jeremy's mocking smirk once again made its way across his expression, as he commented,

"Well, I'm pretty sure that I can go to the library without you, Ronica. I'm a big boy, I can do my homework alone." Veronica's eyes looked up at him, trying not to make the pleading look within them too obvious, as she soon responded,

"N-No, I want to help. I said I would. We… We really should be going, shouldn't we?" As the young woman spoke, she took a few steps closer to Jeremy, her eyes slowly returning to the teacher as he commented once more.

"Oh, that's alright. Maybe, we can speak later? It's rather important." Alaric inquired, his head once again tilting as he looked down at her, with Veronica almost swearing that she could see an anxious look within his eyes that contrasted the seriousness that he had displayed earlier. What was he worried about? He was the man who had killed a vampire that he barely knew the night before, he hadn't seemed too anxious and fearful then.

"U-Uh, maybe. It's been nice talking to you, Mr Saltzman, come on, Jer." She responded in a slightly dismissive manner, incredibly glad when Jeremy began to walk off in the opposite direction a short while later, heading towards the library as he did so. Veronica followed after the young boy, her walking speed far above what it would normally be as she wanted to put some distance between her and the teacher before he called after her. Once they were a slight distance away from the history teacher, Jeremy softly chuckled.

 _"Y-Yes, Mr Saltzman. I-I would love to have your little chat so that I can gaze into your dreamy eyes."_ Jeremy teased the young witch, clearly pretending to impersonate Veronica and her awkward stuttering, causing Veronica to lightly push her friend on the shoulder in a friendly manner.

"Oh, shush. I don't have a crush on him, I just… I was worried that you were going to say something and he'd get the wrong impression, so I wanted to get out of that situation." Veronica lied in her usual awkward manner, her cheeks still being incredibly warmer than normal and her heart still quickly racing. Jeremy laughed almost instantly at her comments, lightly placing his arm around her shoulders, and pulling her in for a brief hug.

"Oh, come on. You can't fool me, Ronica, so stop trying." Jeremy commented, causing Veronica to lightly roll her eyes, with her lightly glancing over her shoulder for a few moments. Her eyes caught sight of Alaric stood by his car, lightly fiddling with his ring. As her eyes studied him, the teacher looked up, his eyes meeting hers as he gave her a small, almost warm smile. Before she even had a chance to think about it, she softly returned the gesture, before her attention returned to Jeremy almost instantly.

"I'm telling the truth. Now, come on, you. We're going to get this project done, so don't you go distracting me." The witch spoke as she nudged against him with a smile still on her lips as she did so. Hopefully, if she could just spend the rest of her free time up with Jeremy working on the project, Alaric would be pushed to the back of her mind, and they wouldn't be able to have the little chat that he seemed to want to have.

That was what she was hoping anyway.

* * *

Veronica's fingers lightly fiddled with the strap of her bag as she and Jeremy wandered through the many book shelves that filled up the library, her dark coloured eyes looking at the shelves for anything that might be useful for his project. Once they eventually got to the section on local myth and legend, she softly nudged Jeremy and gestured for him to follow her so that she could take him to a helpful section. Slowly, the young witch headed down the aisle and her eyes lingered on the many heavy looking books on the shelves for a few moments, trying to find something useful. This side of the library was weird to her, it was eerily quiet, and it unsettled the young woman slightly. The fact that she could hear the sound of her own breathing if she listened carefully bothered her, but she chose to dismiss that. It was probably just her being incredibly paranoid. It was a library after all, it was supposed to be silent.

But she supposed that learning that vampires, witches and vampire hunters existed did that to you. It would make you incredibly paranoid.

The young woman was abruptly brought out of her thoughts as a series of books suddenly tumbled forwards off the shelf, causing her to jump backwards, slightly knocking Jeremy's shoulder as she did so. The witch looked at her friend, wondering what it was that had caused the books to fall, hoping internally that it wasn't something bad. Her question was soon answered as a young looking, dark haired woman appeared at the end of the aisle with a look of terror contained within her eyes as she noticed the books that had been knocked on the floor.

"Oh my god. I am so sorry. There was this one book wedged between the other, and so I pulled and then kaplunk, kaboom." The young woman apologised with a small hand gesture representing how the books had fallen, almost rambling as she spoke, causing Veronica give her a small smile in attempted reassurance. She had probably been in that situation before, as she had a tendency to be quite clumsy at times, especially when she was flustered. The dark haired girl's dark coloured eyes lingered on Veronica and Jeremy for a few moments, before her attention focused mostly on Jeremy. "Are you okay?" She inquired, as Veronica shot a small glance in her friend's direction.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Jeremy responded a short while later, his brown eyes looking down at Veronica a short while later almost as though he were checking to make sure that she had the same answer.

"I'm alright, it just made me jump." Veronica responded in a light hearted manner, as she was once again ignored by the young woman, resulting in her feeling slightly awkward within this situation. Politely, she began to pick up a few of the books that were scattered on the floor a short distance away from the slightly rude girl, not wanting to leave the job to one of the staff members at the library. Jeremy soon copied her actions, with Veronica once again slightly jumping when a soft thud reached her ears. She then stood upright and turned around to find the source of the noise, seeing that Anna and Jeremy were now sat on the floor. The witch watched in slight bemusement as the both of them let out small groans and lightly rubbed their heads, with her soon figuring out that they had apparently banged heads whilst they'd been picking up books.

"I'm Anna." The young woman introduced herself as she lightly massaged her head, offering her spare hand to Jeremy, a small and slightly awkward smile soon pulling at her lips as she did so. Jeremy lightly took hold of her hand and gave it a small shake as he rubbed a small circle around where their heads had apparently collided, allowing a small chuckle to fall from his lips.

"I'm Jeremy. And this is Veronica." The young boy introduced the pair of them, as Veronica gave another small polite smile in Anna's direction, giving her a simple wave before she held out her hand to her best friend on the floor. After Jeremy had removed his hand from the handshake, he lightly took hold of Veronica's hand and used it to pull himself back onto his feet, giving the Bennett girl a large grin as he did so. "Thanks, Ronnie." He commented softly, as Anna got herself back on her feet, giving Jeremy a small smile.

"It's nice to meet you, Jeremy." Anna responded, as Veronica lightly bit down on her lower lip, tucking some of her messy dark coloured hair behind her ear. The feeling of awkwardness she felt was unavoidable in that moment of time.

"I… I think I'm gonna go and get some coffee before we work on this project. The last thing that you need is me falling asleep on you." Veronica spoke in her usual soft manner, now more than anything wanting to get out of the slightly awkward situation that she and Jeremy were now in. It was clear that the girl was solely interested in Jeremy, and Veronica felt a little bit like she was getting in the way of the girl's potential aims. "I'll be back in a little bit, Jer. It was nice to meet you, Anna." Veronica spoke politely to the pair, earning her a small gentle ruffle of her hair from Jeremy before the young Bennett witch turned on her heel and headed off in the other direction. Hopefully, when she came back, either Anna would have gotten bored and gone away, or somewhat calmed down and therefore things wouldn't be too awkward between the group of three.

Allowing a sigh of slight boredom to fall from her lips, Veronica began to walk in the direction of the coffee machine, before her dark coloured eyes caught sight of someone very familiar sat on one of the nearby wooden benches outside of the library. Dana. With a small smile pulling at her lips, the young Bennett witch approached the bench and sat down on the actual table of the bench, just as the vampire herself was doing. "Hey." Veronica greeted her softly, causing the vampire to look over at her, with her usual smirk on her lips.

"Well, hello there, Ronnie." Dana greeted her, her smirk slightly fading when she looked at the young woman for a brief moment. "What's up? You look as though you've been traumatised like me." She prompted, causing Veronica to lightly bite down on her lower lip, not entirely sure if she could tell Dana what was on her mind or not. It would be a relief to get it off her chest, that much was certain, but she couldn't be too sure of Dana's reaction.

"Last night, when you sent me to go and look for Logan… I… I saw something." Veronica's voice shakily admitted as her dark coloured eyes looked over in Dana's direction, earning a small look of confusion from the Salvatore girl. After Dana had given a small hand gesture and thus signalled that she wanted the Bennett witch to go on, Veronica softly sighed to herself and looked down at her hands for a few moments, not exactly sure how to phrase this revelation. "I… Logan…" She trailed off, allowing one of her hands to run through her hair as she attempted to compose herself. "Logan was stood in the parking lot, and he… Alaric showed up. I-I… I'm not entirely sure what he was doing there, or how he knew that Logan was there. Maybe he followed him, I-I'm not entirely sure. And… he… He just staked him. Logan collapsed and turned grey, doesn't that mean that you're dead? R-Right?" The witch asked, her voice clearly shaking in nervousness, as Dana's blue eyes widened slightly as a result of the witch's words.

"Yeah, that's what it looks like." Dana responded softly, her voice oddly not holding that typical Dana snarkiness and coldness. "Your veins appear and your skin goes this dark shade of grey." The vampire rolled her eyes slightly, as Veronica slowly looked up at her with her eyebrows furrowed. "Trust you to get a boyfriend who wants to kill me and my family. That's pretty impressive." Veronica allowed a small sigh to fall from her lips in response to Dana's comment, as she wrapped her arms around herself shyly.

"This isn't a joke, Dana. He could _kill_ you!" Veronica spoke lowly to make sure that anyone that was around wouldn't be able to hear their conversation. Dana merely scoffed in response to her comment, lightly patting the Bennett witch on the shoulder in joking reassurance.

"Nah, I'd like to see him try. I think that it'd be pretty funny." Dana commented in her usual sarcastic tone, her blue eyes looking over at Veronica as she soon realised that the Bennett witch was truly worried about her, causing her to softly sigh. "Ronnie, I've been a vampire since 1922. I've survived for that long for a reason, it wasn't just blind luck. You've seen me go up against people who are physically twice my size and take them down, I'm a lot stronger than I look. Alaric won't hurt me and I promise that as long as he doesn't come after me, then I won't hurt him." Dana spoke lowly with an air of genuine reassurance contained within her tone, with this being one of the rare moments when Dana seemed to truly care about other people and their emotions. It was certainly unusual, but it was a nice change for Veronica. "Trust me, my word is my bond." Dana added on softly, as Veronica gently nodded in response.

"Just, make Stefan and Damon be careful too, okay? I might not especially like Damon, but I don't want him to die." Veronica requested softly, with Dana soon softly chuckling in response, a small smirk pulling at her lips once more. Dana opened her mouth to go and talk, before the sound of a soft male voice cut her off.

"Dana?" Veronica's dark coloured eyes looked past the vampire, soon catching sight of Stefan stood a short distance away from the pair of them with a small look of worry held within his eyes. Dana turned to face him, a slightly exasperated sigh falling from her lips as she caught sight of her cousin.

"Oh, good, it's you. What do you want, Stefan?" Dana questioned in her usual cynical manner, crossing her arms over her chest in a slightly frustrated tone. Veronica's head tilted slightly, with the witch being rather concerned about what had worried the male so much.

"Hello, Veronica." Stefan started politely, giving her a small nod, with Veronica soon giving him a small wave in response. "Have either of you seen Bonnie?" He questioned, causing Veronica's eyes to widen slightly as she gave a small and worrying shake of her head, fearing that something might have happened to her sister. She hadn't seen her since this morning, when Veronica had headed off to hang out with Jeremy.

"No, sorry, I haven't seen Bennett senior, just like I haven't seen Elena or Damon. Damon's still not answering my calls, before you ask that next." Dana answered in a flippant manner, shrugging her shoulders. "Why are you looking for Bonnie now? I thought we were still on the grand Elena search? Or have you finally given up and decided that Damon can have her? At least he'll use her as a human blood bag from the very start instead of prolonging it like you would." The vampire asked, with Stefan apparently being the only one who could notice the pure panic and worry that was held within Veronica's dark brown eyes as a result of Dana's words about Elena and no one seeming to know where Bonnie was.

"W-Wait, what happened with Elena?" Veronica questioned, deciding that she should probably inquire about that issue first. Stefan tensed slightly at her question, as he turned to face the younger Bennett witch, with Dana's piercing gaze not once leaving the elder vampire.

"We… We were together last night, when she saw something that she wasn't supposed to see, a photograph of Katherine. Before I had a chance to explain the photograph, and why I still have it, Elena disappeared. I think that she... Didn't really understand the situation. I wasn't able to get hold of her until this morning, where Damon answered the phone and told me that she didn't really want to speak with me. I don't know where they are, all I know is that she's with Damon. Bonnie was going to do a spell to make sure that she was okay and that she was safe, but she couldn't do it. She physically couldn't. She thought that she'd lost her magic and stormed off, so now I'm looking for her to make sure that she's okay. I don't need her to do the spell anymore, because I've spoken to Elena and she's safe, but I'm just a little bit worried about her." Stefan explained the situation as best as he possibly could do, causing Dana to softly sigh in frustration.

"Oh, for the love of God. Okay, so if I go with you and help you with the Bonnie hunt, will you leave me alone to enjoy my day?" Dana demanded to know in a rather aggressive tone, causing Stefan to nod hesitantly and slowly. Dana's eyes went back to Veronica for a few moments, with her softly biting down on her lower lip for a few moments, before she lightly tapped the girl on the shoulder and soon clambered up off the table. Veronica watched for a few moments as the pair headed off, sitting on the top of the bench by herself, before she heard a soft voice speak to her.

"Veronica?" The young Bennett girl turned, her eyes soon widening as she caught sight of Alaric stood a short distance away from her, her heart almost immediately pounding within her chest just as it had done earlier.

"He-Hello, Mr Saltzman." She greeted him shakily once more, earning a small and sympathetic smile from the teacher as he took a few steps towards her, placing his bag down on the bench that she was sitting on as his dark blue eyes went to meet hers a short while later.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" He inquired, with Veronica now believing that she had no real way out of this situation. Thus, the young woman softly shook her head, earning a gentle smile from the man as he sat down on the table of the bench beside her. "I can understand that you're afraid. If I were you, I'd probably be absolutely terrified of what you saw me do, but…" The male trailed off and in a rather surprising gesture, the teacher gently extended his arm out to her, allowing his hand to softly settle on the bare skin of the Bennett girl's right arm. An almost electric sensation ran through Veronica as a result of his actions, her breath once again hitching within her throat. Her large brown eyes looked up into his dark blue ones, with the witch finding it almost impossible for her to pull her eyes away from him once they'd made eye contact. It was almost as if he were hypnotising to her. "I need to explain to you why I do what I do. Why I… Why I hunt them. And then, if you want to go and tell someone or run about as far away from me as you could possibly get, I wouldn't blame you. After traumatising you like I did last night, I think that I owe you an explanation at the very least. Will you listen? Please?" Alaric's voice eventually spoke up after a few moments, with it taking very little time for Veronica to give a simple and short nod.

She may as well try and hear what he had to say. In those moments, her desire for fairness overwhelmed her common sense that was telling her to run as far away as she possibly could do.

Besides, there was always the possibility that his story would throw a whole new light on this.

 **AN: And I'm going to end it there! Thank you for reading, I hope that you enjoyed! I know that this one was a slightly longer one, but I hope that you enjoyed it anyway! Please do let me know if you prefer the longer chapters or the shorter ones, it would really help me out in the future of this story! Anyway, thank you again for all of the support that you've shown this story, it really means a lot to me! Please let me know what you thought of this chapter in a review, and I'll see you on Monday for the next one!**


	26. Chapter 25: Memories Of A Life Before

**AN: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, any of the characters or the plot, that belongs to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. I solely own Dana and Veronica. All rights go to their original owners.**

Veronica's brown eyes stayed on Alaric, as the male's hand that was still resting on her arm slightly trembled, suggesting that what he was about to say was something that was highly emotional or sensitive to him. The witch's dark eyes lingered on the teacher, as a gentle exhale fell from his lips."Before I came here, I used to live in North Carolina, with my wife. Isobel." Alaric stated, with his expression slightly faltering as he spoke the woman's name. "She was a parapsychology lecturer at Duke University, we met whilst she was studying there." Veronica stayed in silence, merely watching as the male's dark blue eyes suggested that he was now truly lost in his thoughts of happier times back when he'd had his wife.

"We got married young, but I didn't really care. I thought back then that she was the one for me, that I would never want anything other than her, and for a while, we were fine. But, as always, the research consumed her. She began to obsess over this small town near where she grew up, being convinced that the animal attacks that happened there weren't just animal attacks. She started going on trips to this place, staying up all hours of the night researching and it just led to so much arguing because she claimed that I just didn't understand. She… She told me that she thought it was vampires, but I just joked it off. Back then I didn't know any better, I thought it was all just legend, you know?" Alaric finally cut himself off as he looked in Veronica's direction once more, with his focus finally returning to the young Bennett girl that he was retelling his story to.

Being able to guess from his expression and the noticeable volume drop in his voice when he'd been speaking that this was where his story got emotional, Veronica decided to slowly bring up her hand, and lightly placed it over his. She wasn't too sure why she had chosen to do such a gesture instead of choosing to reassure him that he didn't have to tell her this story if it was too sensitive for him to do so, but the mere moment that her fingertips made contact with the back of his hand, she felt it once more. The almost electric sensation that raced through her veins and caused her heart to race loudly within her chest. She couldn't ignore it, it was practically impossible for her to do so, and she had no idea why Alaric was able to have this kind of effect on her. No one before him ever had done.

The young Bennett girl was soon brought out of her thoughts as the teacher began to speak once more, with the witch almost swearing that his tone had slightly picked up this time around. "One night, I was working late. I… I returned to our place, only to find it dark and empty. Thinking that she just wasn't back yet, that she'd just got caught up in researching again, I headed upstairs. And, as I did, I saw her. Stood by the window in our bedroom, in the arms of a figure dressed in black, and the figure… He... He was drinking her blood. She was limp, and I just... I just stood there. I couldn't move, and the moment that I was able to do so, they disappeared with her body." Alaric continued to tell his story, with Veronica almost immediately being hit with a large amount of sympathy for the male that was sat beside her. That must have been perhaps one of the most traumatising incidents someone could possibly go through.

"The cops still consider her a missing person, cause they never found the body. I just want to know what happened to her. Shortly after she went missing I looked into her research and realised that this was the town that she was so obsessed with, and so I figured that if I was ever going to get answers, I should come here." Alaric cut himself off once more, slowly bringing his lower lip between his teeth as he did so. "I didn't want to bring you into this, I'm sorry that you saw me last night. That wasn't part of the plan. If you'd like to run off now, I wouldn't blame you." The male stated softly, with Veronica almost immediately speaking before she had a chance to truly think about what her words meant.

"I want to help you." Alaric's eyes filled with slight confusion at the witch's response, his head tilting slightly to further show his bemusement. "I… I-I mean, I want to help you figure out what happened to her. If… If you want me to, I'll help you find the vampire that did that to your wife. I know I'm not all that intimidating, and I… I mean, I can't fight to save my life, but… I'm very good at finding things out. I'm supposedly intelligent, I… I read really quickly and I'm good at researching. I might, you know, find something out at least." The young Bennett witch frantically rambled, her brain not even bothering to connect her thoughts now as she just blurted out anything that her mouth wanted her to. Her dark coloured eyes looked up at the teacher, with them being slightly widened in flustered panic. A tiny smile pulled at Alaric's lips at her response. The small chuckle that the teacher let out slightly confused the girl, before her heartrate was once again driven into overdrive as he proceeded to wrap his larger hand around her smaller one. The sensation of his warm skin brushing against hers caused her breath to get caught in her throat, her dark coloured eyes looking directly up into his dark blue ones.

"Okay. But the mere moment that there is any form of threat, I want you out of this, okay? This is my issue. I don't need Dana coming after me and trying to kill me because I got you hurt." Alaric spoke with an oddly soft tone, causing the Bennett witch to lightly nod in response to his request as a small and timid smile pulled at her lips. It was weird how she found herself being rather disappointed when the male soon pulled his hand away from hers, allowing it to slip back into his pockets, but she refused to allow that to show on her expression.

Perhaps just this once, the world would work in her favour, and she'd be able to help the male and make sure that he didn't go after Dana or Stefan.

That was her aim anyway.

* * *

Crossing her arms over her chest in a casual manner, Dana proceeded to follow Stefan up the front porch of Sheila Bennett's house, her expression showing that she truly didn't want to be there. For some weird reason, Stefan seemed to be convinced that allowing some time to pass and forcing Dana to help him with things would be enough to convince her to not completely hate him.

Needless to say, it wasn't working so far.

Dana was pretty sure that she had gone out of her way to make it clear to Stefan that she hated him, and she felt as though she was perfectly justified in her reasoning. He had _killed_ her, and forced her to live this immortal life that he himself supposedly completely hated. She'd always been one who was very good at holding grudges, and that was something that had only been exemplified once she'd turned.

"Could you not look like you'd rather be drinking vervain than be here?" Stefan asked in a slightly light hearted manner as they came to a stop in front of the door, earning a small eye roll in response from Dana as she brought her eyes away from the slowly moving rocking chairs a few inches away from her to look at the vampire by her side.

"I'd rather be injecting vervain straight into my veins than be here with you. But, you know, you seem to be intent on playing happy families, so here I am. Let's get on with it." Dana stated, as she raised her fist and knocked on the door in a slightly aggressive manner. It thankfully didn't take long for the elderly woman who lived there to answer, her dark coloured eyes studying the two vampires that stood on her porch with a look of both disdain and curiosity.

"Hi." Stefan spoke almost immediately, clearly wanting to get to the point, as the grandmother focused solely on Stefan. That was something that didn't really surprise Dana all that much.

"Can I help you?" Sheila inquired.

"I'm Stefan. I'm a friend of Bonnie's." Stefan introduced himself politely, as he soon held out his right hand to the elderly woman, with it not taking long for the elder woman to take hold of it in hers and give it a light shake. "And this is Dana, a friend of Veronica's." Stefan spoke as he pulled his hand away from the woman, looking over at Dana a short while later. The Salvatore girl merely gave a nod, being well aware of the response that witches had to her touching them. She'd seen the way that Veronica had reacted when they'd touched for the first time, and she was pretty sure that Sheila wouldn't hold her granddaughter's intrigued and slightly amazed reaction. However when Stefan lightly knocked her arm with his elbow, Dana let out a slight sigh of exasperation and held out her hand to the woman, pulling it back almost as soon as Sheila had taken her hand in hers. "We're looking for Bonnie. Her dad told us that she might be here." Stefan spoke with a small smile on his lips as Dana slid her hand back into the pocket of her leather jacket in a casual manner.

"She was. Not anymore." Sheila responded vaguely to Stefan's comment.

"Do you know where she went?" Stefan asked with a slight hint of desperation now being held in his tone.

"No. But you do." Bonnie and Veronica's grandmother answered in her usual slightly monotonous tone, causing Dana to raise one of her eyebrows and become partially bemused. Because her stating that wasn't creepy in the slightest.

"I'm sorry?" Stefan asked, with him clearly feeling a little bit perturbed by her answer, just as Dana herself had been.

"I told her to face down her fear. And I'm sensing now that you know exactly why she was scared." Sheila stated, her dark eyes looking up at Stefan as a look of slow realisation soon came over the vampire's expression, with Dana soon remembering the events of a few nights ago where Bonnie had been attacked by Damon. If anything was likely to scare you off doing magic, she supposed, that would be it. "You know what I am. And yet you both offered me your hand, which means you wanted me to see that I can trust you." The elderly woman continued to speak, with Dana soon shrugging her shoulders.

"Well, I was sort of forced into it." She commented sarcastically, earning a small glare from the grandmother, as the vampire continued to look back at her with confidence in her eyes. She wasn't afraid of her in the slightest. She stayed like that for a good moment until Stefan spoke again, earning back Sheila's attention.

"Can you? Trust us?" The vampire inquired.

"I trust you'll keep her safe. You'd better be on your way, then. I'm not going to invite you in. I'm sure you understand why." The grandmother answered with a small look of noticeable venom in Dana's direction, earning her an incredibly facetious smile from the vampire in response. After shooting a small smile of politeness at Stefan, the elderly witch soon stepped inside and closed the door behind her, leaving the two vampires out on the empty porch by themselves.

"And let me guess, you're going to ask me to come with you to find her?" Dana inquired in a dry tone as she turned to face him, soon crossing her arms over her chest in a slightly confrontational manner. Truthfully, she hadn't really spoken with Bonnie all that much. Her interactions with her being pretty limited to talking with her when Veronica wasn't around, and she found Elena to be one of the most annoying people that she'd ever encountered in her long life, so she truly didn't care about the quest that Stefan was going on as a whole.

"You do realise that she's not her, right?" Stefan asked, causing Dana to look at him in pure confusion before he spoke once more. "Veronica. She's nothing like Janine. And the sooner that you realise that and stop following her around, the better." Stefan added on, earning him a small eye roll from the female vampire.

"You don't know anything about her, Stefan, nor do you know why I'm actually here, so don't try and guess because it really doesn't make you seem clever or impressive." Dana responded in her usual abrupt and cold manner as she stepped down off the porch and turned back to face her cousin, or at the very least, the man that she referred to as her cousin. "And besides, you're a fine one to talk, Mr _'Oh, I Fell Madly In Love With This Girl Cause She Looks Creepily Like Some Woman I Used To Be Obsessed With'!_ " Dana added on, earning a slight look of disapproval from Stefan, as the elder vampire stepped down off the porch with his green eyes looking into hers.

"Leave Elena alone." Stefan spoke darkly, earning a small laugh from the female vampire, with her once again not feeling afraid of the person before her. Her cold blue eyes looked up into his in defiance, as she stepped towards him.

"Make me." Dana challenged him, as Stefan narrowed his eyes slightly, obviously trying his hardest to hide the anger that was beginning to grow inside of him. "Now, we have to go and save Bonnie before her evil grandmother makes my ring stop working or something. Save hitting me for later when we're alone, Stefan. You always were very good at letting out your resentment towards me in dark, lonely places." She stated coldly, hesitantly breaking her gaze with Stefan as she soon turned on her heel and began to head towards the woods, Stefan soon following after her.

* * *

"So how long are you going to keep this act up then, Dana?" Stefan's voice called after the female vampire as they trudged through the slowly darkening woods, shattering the silence that had fallen between the two of them ever since they'd left the outside of Sheila's house. Honestly, Dana had been rather enjoying the silence. It had meant that she hadn't had to listen to Stefan and his lecturing. She slowly turned back to face Stefan as she stopped walking, looking at him in slight confusion.

"What act?" She questioned, watching as Stefan slowly came to a stop a short distance away from her.

"Acting as though you hate me more than you hate Damon." Stefan responded, earning a scoff from Dana in response.

"I do hate you more than I hate Damon, Stefan. This isn't an act. This is genuine hatred, so if you could stop trying to be nice to me and acting like you suddenly care about me because you want to impress Elena with your compassion, that'd be great." The female vampire responded in a cold manner, causing Stefan to softly sigh in response to her comments.

"Don't you think I regret what happened that night? That I wouldn't take it all back if I could? I've made it clear to you that I'm sorry for what I did." Stefan argued back, earning a slightly louder scoff from Dana a short while later.

"You're _sorry_?" Dana questioned with venom in her tone, her blue eyes flaring with anger. "Stefan, you didn't break my car or damage my phone, you broke my neck! You fed me your blood and then you broke my neck, and made me live forever because you were bored. I think we're a little bit beyond apologies now, don't you think? The worst thing that Damon has ever done to me is annoy me. He hasn't tried to kill me." The vampire vented out, finding it truly ridiculous that Stefan thought that a few apologies would make up for him killing her all those years ago. "So, can we not do the whole family bonding thing? I'm really not feeling it." She spoke, as she turned back, her entire body tensed as she picked up the sound of faint beeping and a distant female voice that sounded oddly like Bonnie's coming from a short distance away from her.

"Do you hear that?" She spoke, looking back at Stefan as the vampire softly nodded in response, soon beginning to walk forwards in the direction of the voice. Dana slowly followed after him, with her blue eyes soon noticing that there was a large hole in the ground a short distance ahead of her. Was that where the voice was coming from? Her eyes looked over at Stefan, as the vampire proceeded to almost immediately jump down into the hole to investigate.

The female stood around the edge for a few moments, waiting for Stefan to hurry up and come back as her eyes looked around the practically pitch black forest, listening out to make sure that there was no one around who might have picked up on her previous little rant with Stefan. Anyone who didn't know that her and Stefan were vampires would have thought that she was completely insane. Shoving her hands into the pockets of her leather jacket, the vampire soon returned her attention to the large pit before her as she heard Stefan yell up at her, telling her to step back from the edge. Rolling her eyes, Dana did as she was told, taking several steps back from the edge of the pit. She stood there for a few moments before she was hit by a blast of wind, Stefan soon appearing before her with a very shaken up Bonnie in his arms, her eyes shut tightly. "You can open your eyes now." Stefan spoke softly to her, as the witch hesitantly opened her dark green eyes, jumping slightly as her eyes soon settled on Dana and realised that she wasn't in the pit anymore.

"Oh, hello there, Bon Bon." Dana greeted her casually, noticing that the witch had a small cut on the top of her head, presumably from when she had fallen into the pit in the first place. "Nice of you to join us. Maybe you shouldn't go jumping into pits without telling others first. I mean, what were you even doing in there in the first place? Is this a hobby of yours?" She questioned in a truly confused manner, wondering how the young witch had ended up down there. She presumably hadn't just jumped into the dark and seemingly endless pit, so Dana couldn't help but be genuinely curious about the events that had transpired out here in the pitch-black woods.

"Not now, Dana." Stefan commented to the sarcastic woman, as his green eyes looked down at Bonnie. "I didn't want to scare you, thus why I told you to close your eyes." He spoke softly, as he slowly released his grip on the young woman, with her being able to just about stand up by herself now.

"How did you two know where I was?" Bonnie's shaking voice inquired, her eyes flicking between Stefan and Dana, waiting for a response from either of the pair.

"You really think that we could miss a massive hole in the ground?" Dana inquired, earning her a small discouraging look from Stefan. The other vampire then proceeded to respond.

"Well, your grandmother told us what you were doing. I guessed the where." Stefan spoke with a slightly modest shrug of his shoulders, giving the young woman a small smile in an attempt to reassure her. Keeping her arms wrapped tightly around herself, Bonnie shakily nodded, her eyes glancing away from Stefan to look down into the pit for a matter of seconds, before her attention once again returned to Stefan.

"I heard them...down there...behind the door." Bonnie began, with it taking a few moments for Dana to realise what she was talking about. That was the tomb underneath the church, the tomb where Katherine and the others were sealed by Emily's spell. Apparently, Bonnie had managed to find the door to it. "Are they in pain?" Bonnie softly inquired, with her almost seeming to be genuinely concerned for the creatures that were trapped behind the door. Dana once again stayed silent, not wanting to give the honest answer to the question and inform the witch that if any of them were conscious, then they were quite likely in a lot of pain.

"In the beginning...yes. But not anymore. They've starved to the point of desiccation." Stefan answered, presumably believing that was what the young woman wanted to hear.

"But if they have blood..." Bonnie began to speak once more, with it not taking long before Stefan cut her off and started to attempt to lay her fears to rest.

"That's not going to happen, Bonnie. They can't get out. Emily saw to that when she had you destroy the crystal. You're safe." Stefan insisted, giving a small shake of his head a short while later, as Dana took this moment to interject.

"Yeah. And besides, other than Damon, no one wanted to let them out in the first place. No one's dumb enough to actually try and open that tomb, so even if there is some magical work around, we should be good with regards to everyone else. We'll just have to keep an eye on Damon if there does turn out to be another way to deal with this." Dana added on, with Bonnie looking at her as she spoke, as the vampire soon gave her a small smile to try and reassure her. The last thing that they needed was one of the very few witches in this town freaking out about the unreal threat. She was just getting a hold on her powers, her getting worried and fearing too much might cause her to lose control.

And an out of control witch would quite possibly be much worse than several vampires.

 **AN: And I'm going to end it there! Thank you very much for reading, I hope you enjoyed! I made this chapter a bit shorter than the last one, as I worried that you guys might not want to read two ridiculously long chapters in a row! Anyway, please let me know what you thought of this chapter in a review, I'd appreciate it! Let me know if you're enjoying the little moments between Alaric and Veronica and what you think of my OC's now! Or just anything in general to do with the story! But, aside from that, thank you again for all the support and I'll see you on Friday for the next chapter!**


	27. Chapter 26: Overprotective

**AN: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, any of the characters or the plot, that belongs to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. I solely own Dana and Veronica. All rights go to their original owners.**

"Well, now, look who's returned from battle." Sheila's voice reached Dana's ears as the elderly witch pulled open the front door of her house, giving her elder granddaughter a warming smile. Almost immediately, Bonnie was pulled into the woman's grasp. They held onto each other tightly, with Bonnie clearly needing all the reassurance that she could get in those moments. Dana and Stefan came to a slightly awkward pause a few inches behind the hugging witches, with Stefan having a small smile on his face at the gesture before them whilst Dana just looked bored as she always did. A brief while later, Sheila pulled away, her dark coloured eyes looking solely at Bonnie. "Can I talk to your friends for a minute?" She requested softly, causing Dana's head to tilt slightly, wondering what it was that the elderly woman wanted to talk to them about. Her bright blue eyes stayed on Bonnie as the young girl proceeded to nod at her grandmother's question, stepping out of the way. As she began to walk in the opposite direction, Bonnie slowly came to a halt and turned back to face Dana and Stefan who were still casually stood out on the porch.

"Thank you. Both of you." Bonnie spoke softly, giving the both of them a small smile as she did so. Dana gave a small nod of response, with Stefan almost mirroring her actions, except for the fact that he had a small and slightly welcoming smile on his lips as he did so. Bonnie soon turned back and headed further into the house, presumably heading towards her bedroom, leaving the two vampires alone with the elderly witch.

"I appreciate your help, Stefan." Shelia spoke warmly to the elder of the two vampires, once again completely ignoring Dana, as Stefan stepped towards the open doorway a short while later.

"You're welcome." Stefan responded softly, the smile on his lips slightly growing into a smirk as he did so. "Sheila." The vampire added on, with a look of confusion soon forming on Dana's expression, wondering how on earth the pair knew each other. She hadn't introduced herself to them as Sheila, and the only reason that Dana even knew that was her name was through her own interactions with her sister a long time ago when she hadn't been with Stefan and she'd been going around on her own. Her eyes soon went back to the elder Bennett witch, as a large smile pulled at her lips, with her apparently also remembering their meeting clearly.

"I wasn't sure you remembered." Sheila commented with a slight glint in her eyes, causing Dana's eyebrow to raise once more, hoping that the history between the pair would be revealed at some point soon before Dana had to intervene and directly ask what was going on.

"October 1969." Stefan confirmed, with it not taking long for Sheila to respond with,

"I was barely a teenager!"

"And you were leading what was probably the _only_ anti-war sit-in within miles of Mystic Falls." Stefan spoke in a flattering manner, causing the female vampire to sigh with slight relief to herself, realising that there was no form of complicated history between the pair. The last thing that she needed to deal with was some form of weird relationship history between Stefan and Sheila. Bonnie and Veronica's grandmother smirked slightly at his compliment, looking down at the floor for a few moments before her attention returned to Stefan. "You know, when you spoke, people were mesmerized. I know I was." Stefan added on, confirming his high appreciation of the woman and her public speaking skills.

"Until the cops showed up." Sheila commented in a light hearted manner, causing Dana to let out a small scoff, finding the mental image of the woman being dragged off by the cops rather amusing for some unknown reason. However, just as it had done before, it didn't take very long for the mood to shift as Sheila looked up at Stefan with a serious look on her expression. "You took a big risk coming to see me earlier. Letting me read the pair of you, realize who you were. It could have gone in a completely different way." She commented darkly, causing Stefan to softly nod.

"Your family has a very… long history of… keeping my secret. I knew that I could trust you if you believed I was worthy of your trust." Stefan stated, taking brief pauses in between his words, with Dana soon giving a small shrug of her shoulders. She had been forced into giving away what she was to the elderly woman, trust had absolutely nothing to do with it for her.

"Bonnie and Veronica know, doesn't they?" Sheila inquired, with Stefan soon softly sighing, contemplating his response for a few moments before he gave a small nod of his head and responded,

"Yes. Dana told Veronica fairly early into their friendship and Bonnie found out a short while ago." Sheila softly nodded at the male's response, her serious look staying on her face as a result of Stefan's answer.

"Please understand, our loyalty can only extend so far. This town won't be easy on any of us if they figure it out. And I'll protect my own before anybody else." Sheila spoke with an element of caution contained within her voice, causing Stefan to nod, showing complete understanding of the woman's words.

"I know that." Stefan confirmed.

"As long as we're clear." Sheila responded, her dark eyes looking up at Stefan as she took a small step back from the vampire on her porch. "Goodnight, then." She stated, causing Dana to almost immediately turn on her heel and go to leave the porch, before she heard Sheila call after her. "Who said I was done with you, Dana?" The vampire allowed a small sigh of slight exasperation to fall from her lips as she turned back around to face the witch with a look of small annoyance burning within her bright blue eyes.

"What?" Dana asked, crossing her arms over her chest, causing Sheila to give a significantly unimpressed look at the vampire's attitude.

"I'm aware that you and Veronica have grown close over the past several weeks. Despite me telling her repeatedly to stay away from you, she just doesn't appear to listen. Or perhaps you just never leave her alone. I'm not entirely sure of the friendship between you two, and I don't particularly care to hear you try and explain it. She's my granddaughter, and I love her with all my heart, but she can be far too trusting and naïve at times. No matter what anyone tells her, she won't truly see how dangerous and manipulative you are until it's far too late and either her or someone that she cares about gets badly hurt. I don't know how much humanity you have left within that ice-cold heart of yours, but if you have any form of compassion and humanity, please, leave her alone. She'll be far better off without you in her life." Sheila spoke, causing Dana to allow a loud laugh to fall from her lips.

"Hmm. You know, that's funny. That's _very_ funny." Dana stated, a large smirk being held on her expression as she looked at the elder woman with defiance held within her blue eyes. "I'm beginning to get annoyed of people who act like they know me telling me what to do. Have you ever considered that maybe I don't want to kill your granddaughter?" Dana questioned, placing her hands up. "Maybe I just want to help her loosen up and actually have fun for once. You know, help her talk to the guy that she likes rather than just hide in the corner like she has done her whole life? Maybe I don't want to kill everyone I come across just because of who I am. I'm not afraid of you or your threats." Dana spoke, with a clear anger being held in her tone. "So, if I want to be friends with Veronica, I damn well will be. Nothing you or anyone else says will make me think differently." Dana spoke, going to turn back around, before she felt a sharp pain radiating from her head. This caused her to let out a loud noise of pain, soon clutching her head in agony as she looked back at the witch in anger. The familiar veins appeared under her eyes as she soon proceeded to speed forward, going to attack the witch and stop her spell, only for Stefan to step in her way and forcefully grab hold of her. Dana struggled against her cousin's grasp for a few moments, as she was soon pushed away from Sheila, Stefan apparently wanting to keep her safe. The female vampire growled aggressively at Stefan, taking a few steps backwards as she got off the porch. She didn't say anything to either person as she stormed off in the direction of the Boarding House, trying her absolute hardest not to hurt anyone on the way there.

She'd just had enough of people trying to control her.

* * *

Veronica lightly bit down on her lower lip as she shakily sat down at the bar after Alaric had told her to come down and sit beside him. Her dark coloured eyes looked at the collection of papers that were before the teacher for a few moments, her focus temporarily lingering on the half full glass of amber tinted liquid that sat beside those papers, before her eyes went back to the teacher. "C-Can I ask you a question?" She inquired with a slightly nervous tremble to her voice as the teacher wrote a large letter A on the paper before him in red pen, his blue eyes soon looking back at Veronica. He gave her a small and gentle smile, before nodding softly. The young woman rested her arm against the surface of the bar, resting her head against her flattened palm a short while later, before she softly inquired, "Y-You know the story that you told me? About how you read your wife's research about the vampires and that's what led you to become a hunter?" The young witch made sure to keep her voice as low as was physically possible so that anyone else that was in the bar with them wouldn't be able to overhear them, causing the male to softly nod in response once more. "Do you have… Do you have weapons and stuff? Where do you get them from? Is there a shop or something?" She inquired, allowing a slightly nervous laugh to fall from her lips at her question. "You don't have to answer that if you don't want to, I'm just… It's just me being nosy again, like I always am. I never know when I'm stepping over a line." Veronica rambled in a slightly nervous manner, tucking a lock of dark coloured hair behind her ear timidly, relieved when Alaric let out his normal gentle chuckle. Clearly, he wasn't bothered by her questions.

"You don't have to apologise for asking questions, Veronica." Alaric reassured her, his blue eyes lingering on her. "I don't mind. All of the weapons I make myself. Making stakes is fairly easy if you know how to whittle." The teacher answered modestly, with Veronica's eyes slightly widening at his response, being rather impressed that the male made whatever weapons he had in the fight against the creatures of the night himself.

"So, you're a technical genius then?" The witch asked, causing Alaric to laugh once more at her question, giving a small shake of his head as a slight glint appeared in his dark blue eyes.

"Very flattering, thank you, but no. I'm just… I'm just a guy who can make things." Alaric responded softly, causing Veronica to meet his eyes with hers.

"You're far more than that, Mr Saltzman. I can't whittle. I can barely put a wardrobe together without help. You're almost definitely a genius compared to me." Veronica commented playfully with a small smile on her lips, with Alaric's dark blue eyes lingering on hers for a few moments.

"I could teach you how to whittle. If you wanted." Alaric offered, with his voice now holding a noticeable softness and a look of seriousness being evident in his eyes. Veronica's smile grew slightly at his offer, with the young witch trying her absolute hardest to ignore the fact that her heartrate had once again picked up within her chest. "I mean, I'm not saying that I'd be an amazing teacher or anything, but if you're interested, I could." Alaric added on a short while later, as Veronica almost immediately responded,

"I'd like that." The young witch looked up into his dark coloured eyes as she spoke, feeling the small amount of butterflies that she had within her stomach dramatically increase as the teacher let out another small chuckle and soon gave her his usual charming smile. His eyes stayed on her for a few moments, acting almost as if he didn't want to pull his eyes away from her, before Veronica broke the shared eye contact upon noticing someone that she recognised and knew approaching the bar out of the corner of her eyes.

Damon.

Dressed completely in black as always, the vampire sat down on one of the stools a short distance away from her and the teacher, with his blue eyes soon looking over in the direction of Alaric and Veronica. He gave a small smirk at the Bennett witch, causing her to blush slightly, fearing that he had seen the previous interaction between her and the teacher. The witch soon brought her eyes away from the vampire, her attention going to Alaric. A look of pure confusion almost instantly formed in her dark coloured eyes as she looked at the teacher, noticing that his entire body had tensed and there was a look in his eyes similar to the one that he'd had whilst he had been telling her about Isobel, suggesting that he was once again lost in his thoughts.

"M… Mr Saltzman? Are you alright?" She questioned softly, as the teacher's form relaxed slightly, with him soon picking up the glass by his paperwork. He instantly downed the amber liquid held within the drink, the sound of the ice clinking against the side of the small glass being the only thing that could be heard in those moments. Veronica felt nothing but pure worry and confusion run through her veins as the male finally finished his drink, slowly placing the glass down on the wooden surface of the bar, his movements almost seeming slightly forced. Veronica went to once again ask the teacher if he was alright, before she noticed his hands and how they were clearly shaking, with her not being too sure if it was worry or fear that was causing his hands to tremble. Her dark brown eyes stayed on him as his shaking right hand let go of the glass and was soon slammed flat down on the bar.

What was going on?

 **AN: And I'm going to end it there! Thank you for reading! I hope that you enjoyed! I would really appreciate it if you were to leave me a review and let me know what you thought of this chapter, mostly because I'm beginning to worry that none of you guys are enjoying this story anymore. Anyway, if you could please tell me what you thought, it'd mean a lot to me! Thank you again for reading, and I'll see you on Monday for the next update!**


	28. Chapter 27: Dance Miserable

**AN: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, any of the characters or the plot, that belongs to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. I solely own Dana and Veronica. All rights go to their original owners.**

Allowing a small and slightly nervous breath to fall from her lips, Veronica stepped through the gymnasium doors, her dark brown eyes looking around the room for a few moments at the large crowd that was here for the latest Decade Dance. The school seemed to be obsessed with holding these things, and while Veronica could understand that certain people, like Caroline, truly loved these dances and dressing up, it just made Veronica feel slightly uncomfortable. As with every dance, Veronica had had her outfit, hairstyle, make-up and shoes carefully suggested by Caroline, leaving her with a large skirted dark blue dress, her dark brown hair being tied up in some complicated hairstyle that had taken hours and Veronica couldn't even begin to describe or explain and some simple black shoes. Her attention went to the male that she had attended the dance with, Jeremy, who was stood by her side and dressed in a casual manner. "You don't have to help me out with the punch, you do know that, right? I mean, you've clearly gone to a lot of effort. It's almost as if you're aiming to impress someone." Jeremy teased his best friend in a slightly playful manner, a small smirk pulling at his expression, causing a slightly timid blush to form on the mocha coloured cheeks of the girl as she looked down at her dress for a few moments.

"I'm not trying to impress anyone, Jer. Trust me, I'm only here because I think that Care would actually kill me if I didn't. At least if I'm helping at the drinks table, Caroline and Bonnie won't drag me onto the dance floor." Veronica answered in a soft tone, her voice being barely even audible over the loud fifties music that was being played over the speakers as her large brown eyes looked up at her best friend, with her soon lightly pushing him in the direction of the punch table. "We have work to do, stop trying to distract me." She commented, earning a small groan from Jeremy, as the young boy began to slowly head over in the direction of the punch bowl and drinks table, soon standing behind it with Veronica still by his side. The boy picked up one of the remaining cups and began to ladle some of the red coloured punch into the plastic cup, Veronica soon beginning to do the same. It didn't take long however, before Jeremy broke the silence that had fallen between the pair.

"I got an A on my paper, by the way. You know, the one that I wrote for Mr Saltzman?" Jeremy inquired with a slight hint of pride held within his tone, causing a large smile to pull at Veronica's lips, a glint of happiness held within her eyes.

"That's amazing!" She exclaimed as she placed down a cup on the table, allowing one of her arms to lightly wrap around Jeremy's lower back, giving him the best hug that she could manage in those moments, causing Jeremy to softly chuckle. "Well done! I know how hard you worked on it, you deserve it." She added on, praising him, as Jeremy gave a small and modest shrug of his shoulders in response to her compliments.

"Well, I had a lot of help." He stated, his dark coloured eyes looking down at Veronica as he spoke, causing the young Bennett witch to shyly bite down on her lower lip. "And my ancestors journals and Anna's articles helped out quite a bit." Jeremy spoke, causing a look of slight bemusement to form on Veronica's expression. She hadn't known that Anna had helped him out with his essay all that much.

"Didn't know that you and Anna were friends now, Jer." She commented in a slightly playful tone, causing Jeremy to sigh softly, giving a small shrug of his shoulders once more.

"We're not really friends." Jeremy denied, causing the witch to raise an eyebrow in slight confusion. "She just kinda follows me around. Like Dana does with you. It's a bit weird, if I'm honest, but you know, I've just sort of gotten used to it." Jeremy explained, causing Veronica to softly nod in response. Admittedly, she'd only met Anna once, on that infamous day in the library, and it had been incredibly awkward. Since then, Veronica hadn't exactly been desperate to hang around with the young woman who clearly had no interest in her. Veronica's dark coloured eyes were pulled away from Jeremy when she noticed Anna approaching the table, with the witch wondering what she was doing here. Given that Veronica had never seen her around prior to the library incident, the witch guessed that she didn't go to school here, so why was she at the dance?

"You neglected to mention this was a theme party." Anna commented playfully, causing Jeremy to look over at her, clearly feeling very confused by the young woman's presence at this particular event based off the look that he held in his eyes. Placing down another cup of punch, the young boy looked over at Anna, focusing his attention on her.

"What are you doing here?" Jeremy inquired with clear surprise in his tone, causing Anna to slightly smirk at his response.

"Well, seeing as you also neglected to invite me, I took matters into my own hands." Anna answered, as her dark coloured eyes temporarily went to Veronica. "Hello, Veronica." She spoke with a slightly cold and hesitant tone, her attention almost immediately returning to Jeremy.

"Hi." Veronica spoke softly, allowing her arms to wrap around herself once again as she almost immediately felt the awkwardness that she'd experienced during their initial conversation. It was probably the fact that Anna was clearly flirting with Jeremy that caused her to become uncomfortable in the first place. She felt like a third wheel, some form of weird voyeur and honestly, she kinda just wanted to get out of the way before Anna took this too far.

"You're doing that thing again." Jeremy spoke playfully, bringing the Bennett witch's attention back to her best friend, her eyes lingering on the only person that was taking part in the conversation who might actually be willing to talk to her.

"What thing would that be?" Anna inquired in an almost teasing manner, her dark coloured eyes almost immediately being filled with what Veronica found herself believing for a few moments was fake curiosity.

"That thing where you pretend we're dating, even though we're not." Jeremy answered in a slightly sarcastic manner, as Veronica proceeded to hand over a drink to the girl that approached the table, deciding that she might as well try and do something rather than just stand around, awkwardly listening to the pair flirt with each other.

"Oh, you mean stalking. Yeah." The sound of Anna's voice reached her ears as Veronica handed over yet another plastic cup full of crimson punch, her brown eyes looking back at Anna and Jeremy as Anna gave a small laugh of amusement. "Get over yourself. Come on. I've never been to a school dance before. Humour me." Anna stated, causing Jeremy to softly and slowly smile at the young woman stood before him, with it taking noticeably longer for Jeremy to bring his eyes back to Veronica. He gave his best friend a weak smile when he finally did so, although the gesture seemed far more genuine than anything that Anna had said to her all evening.

"Ronica, I'm… I'm just gonna go and get some more ice. I'm sure that Anna would be willing to help you while I'm gone." Jeremy explained, as the Bennett girl softly nodded, giving her friend a large smile in response almost automatically. Jeremy lightly placed his hand on the young Bennett witch's shoulder, lightly patting her shoulder before he headed off, leaving Veronica alone with Anna. In a vain attempt to kill the awkwardness before it truly set in, the young Bennett girl shot a small glance in Anna's direction, giving her a warm smile and thus greeting her in a similar manner to how she would normally greet one of her friends. Truthfully, the Bennett witch wasn't too sure what she had done to cause the young woman to act so coldly towards her, but Veronica feared that it might have been something to do with how she had acted towards her when they'd first met. Veronica had disappeared from the conversation fairly quickly, and she hadn't gone out of her way to make the best first impression. If this girl was going to be hanging around with Jeremy, Veronica didn't want her to completely hate her, and she wanted to go out of her way to get on with her and prevent things from continuing to be awkward between them.

"You know…" Anna began to speak, causing Veronica to look over at her, the kind smile still being held on her expression, waiting for the girl to continue speaking. "You seem like a nice girl, Veronica." Anna added on, with Veronica finding herself being rather puzzled by the insanely serious and almost cold look that Anna held on her expression with her brown eyes seeming almost emotionless as she looked directly into the eyes of the Bennett girl. "It's a shame, you know. I mean, I really don't understand why Jeremy said all of that stuff about you when you seem so kind." Anna spoke in a vague tone, with her words almost immediately hitting Veronica emotionally and causing her to tense. Veronica knew that it was slightly pathetic how one sentence could cause her to question everything, owing to how insecure she was and the fact that internally she always worried that Jeremy only really put up with her because he didn't have anyone else in his life, but she couldn't help it. Anna had managed to get directly in her insecurities with her words, and now her naturally panicky mindset had set in.

"What… What did he say?" Veronica inquired, not liking the nervous tremble that was held within her own tone, nor liking the slight glint that appeared within Anna's deep dark eyes upon hearing Veronica's words.

"Well." Anna began with a slight hesitation, lightly bringing her lower lip between her teeth as she walked around to stand behind the small punch booth so that she was closer to the witch. "When he and I were playing foosball last week, he said that he finds you a little bit overbearing. He wishes at times that you'd just leave him alone and not be his friend anymore. But… I'm sure that he didn't mean it." Anna added on, as though the concluding sentence was supposed to bring her some form of reassurance or comfort. As Anna's eyes looked up at her, Veronica stayed completely still and tense, internally fighting whether or not she believed Anna's statement or not. The logical part of her was frantically arguing that Jeremy was her best friend and had been practically ever since he was born. Even if he did find her protectiveness over him and her caring nature overbearing, it wouldn't make sense for him to not want to be friends with her anymore. The sort of bond that the pair of them had and that they'd created over the past several years of their friendship couldn't be broken quite that easily, and surely Jeremy would know that.

But, at the same time, her insecure side was telling her that she was telling the truth. Anna had no reason to lie to her about such a thing. There would be nothing that she could gain from it. She also knew that she could be incredibly clingy when the moment called for it, with her quite often fearing that if she didn't hang around, then Jeremy could quite easily replace her for someone who was less annoying than she was. Slowly coming out of her thoughts, Veronica looked directly at Anna with saddened eyes, trying her hardest to act as though she wasn't having an insecure freak out internally in those moments and that she was just a little bit upset at the confession.

"Th-Thank you for telling me, Anna." Veronica's shaking voice responded, with her soon giving the young woman a weak smile that she had to force onto her expression. "I appreciate it. And… And I'm going to give him what he wants, I'll head off. Maybe go stand with Caroline and Bonnie or something." The witch spoke, causing Anna to give a small nod of understanding, as Veronica lightly bit down on her lower lip in an attempt to stop it from wobbling before it got too noticeable. Slowly, Veronica wrapped her arms around herself tighter, as she began to head off, turning back to face Anna once she had gotten a few inches away. "Look after him. Please." She requested softly as the woman looked back at her. "I get that you're attracted to him, and… I've got no place to get in-between that, so I'm not going to tell you to stay away from him or anything like that, but… He's been through a lot this past year, and he's recently lost a lot of people who meant a lot to him. Please, if you care about him as much as you seem to, respect that. If he says that he's not ready, then wait. He's worth it." Veronica spoke softly, giving Anna a small smile.

The young woman once again nodded in response, before Veronica turned on her heel once more and headed towards one of the side entrances to the gym so that she could step outside and have a few moments to herself to truly calm down before she went to talk to Caroline, who would be able to read her insecure mind like an open book. That was a gift that the blonde girl had always possessed. Keeping her arms wrapped incredibly tightly around herself as she walked through the busy dance, almost as if she was trying to comfort herself, the young witch's attention was soon brought to the far corner of the room by a sudden movement. Coming to a slow stop, her brown eyes soon caught sight of Dana stood in the far corner of the room, dressed in a red and black spotted dress and a leather jacket, violently shoving Tyler in the chest to presumably get him away from her.

Veronica almost immediately began to make her way through the room to the pair, wanting to know what was going on and to check if they needed her help in calming the situation down. As she began to approach, Dana's fiery blue eyes went to look at her, a small glint of what appeared to be relief soon appearing within them. "Ronnie!" Dana's voice greeted her with energy, causing Tyler to look back at the Bennett girl. His body abruptly stiffened as he did so, almost as though he had been caught doing something that he shouldn't have been doing. Veronica gave a weak smile in Tyler's direction to greet him, before her attention went to Dana. "You can get lost now, Lockwood. Will you actually listen now that there's someone else here?" Dana's voice snapped aggressively as she looked back at the young boy that soon shoved his hands into the pockets of his dark coloured jeans, about to leave. However, his speed apparently wasn't fast enough for the naturally very impatient Dana, as she soon snapped, "Leave before I throw the punch bowl over your head!" Tyler glared at her, anger clearly contained within his dark eyes which caused Veronica to step in between him and the female vampire, a slight protectiveness behind her actions.

"Tyler." Veronica cautioned calmly as she held out her hand, almost as if she was attempting to provide an additional barrier between the vampire and the clearly very angry male, her dark brown eyes looking up at Tyler. Tyler looked down at her in slight confusion for a few moments, before the rage finally boiled down, his brown eyes appearing almost apologetic for the anger that he had exhibited a few moments ago. After shooting a small and slight glare in Dana's direction, Tyler turned and stormed back off to re-join the party, with Veronica moving back to face the female Salvatore girl once Tyler had disappeared from her sight. Veronica allowed her arm to fall back down by her side as Dana slowly slumped down onto the floor in a casual manner, clearly not caring in the slightest about whether she got any dirt on her dress or messed up her hair.

"Thanks." Dana spoke softly as she rested her head against the wall behind her, her blue eyes soon looking up at the witch as she gave her a small smile and picked up the small punch cup that had been placed up on the top of the nearby table, taking a small sip from it. "You would think that me pushing him against a locker and nearly choking him to death would send the message that I'm not into him, but apparently not." Dana murmured sarcastically, a slight slur to her words that caused Veronica to furrow her eyebrows slightly, a small laugh falling from Dana's lips as she caught sight of the witch's response. "Now, you see, unlike you, I don't give a damn about any school rules. I'm stuck on team Let's Protect Elena, again, and the only way that I can entertain myself is to drink. Don't look so unamused and judgemental, vampires can't really get drunk. We mostly just drink to curb the cravings, or if we're bored." Dana spoke, soon holding out the small cup to Veronica. "Want some? You look like you need it more than I do. What's up? Teacher ditch you to go and sharpen his stakes?" Dana commented teasingly, as Veronica hesitantly took hold of the plastic cup, softly shaking her head.

"It's a long story." Veronica answered, as she brought the cup to her lips and took a large drink from it, practically downing all of the red liquid that was contained within the cup before she had to stop and let out a loud cough as the bitter and oddly warm liquid hit the back of her throat. The witch placed down the cup on the table, sticking her tongue out slightly as her taste buds adjusted to sudden influence of alcohol, not entirely sure if she liked the taste or not. "What the hell did you put in that?" She questioned once the burning sensation from the alcohol had merely subsided to a faint tingling sensation at the back of her mouth, causing Dana to laugh softly.

"That, my innocent and naïve friend, is called bourbon and it's practically the only decent alcohol that we have in the Boarding House." Dana answered as she picked up the cup once more and downed the remaining dregs in the cup. "I'd also like to reassure you that it tastes about a million times better on its own, but, you know. It'll do. You do realise that I have a literal eternity, right? Tell me what's bothering you so much, I almost guarantee that I'm a better advisor than Blondie is." The vampire prompted, causing Veronica to softly sigh, picking up the nearby chair and placing it down a short distance away from Dana as she didn't want to sit on the floor, sitting down carefully.

"Fine. But… I'm not touching anymore of that stuff, no matter what you say. I can't actually feel the back of my mouth right now, is that normal?" Veronica inquired in her usual curious tone, causing Dana to let out another laugh, her blue eyes looking up at her with a slight glint of mischief contained within them as she softly shrugged.

And as Veronica sat there, beginning to recount the conversation that she'd just had with Anna about Jeremy, she couldn't help but get the feeling that the evening that she had believed was going to be incredibly boring was going to be anything but.

Especially now that Dana, the constant source of drama in her life, was with her.

 **AN: And I'm going to end it there! Thank you for reading! I hope that you enjoyed! Please leave me a review to let me know what you thought and I'll see you in the next chapter on Friday!**


	29. Chapter 28: The Darkest Parts Of Me

**AN: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, any of the characters or the plot, that belongs to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. I solely own Dana and Veronica. All rights go to their original owners.**

"So, why are you watching Elena?" Veronica inquired after she had finished recounting her story, a look of confusion forming on her expression, as Dana took another small sip from the silver flask that she'd produced from the pocket of her leather jacket that she'd brought with her whilst Veronica had been telling her what had happened between her and Anna.

"When am I not stuck watching Elena would be a better question." Dana responded in her usual sarcastic manner once she'd finished drinking, her fingers idly playing with the tiny black cap that belonged with her flask, before her eyes looked back up at Veronica. "Honestly, it's almost as if she's made out of glass or something. Always gotta keep an eye on Elena, see who's trying to hunt her down and kill her this week." Dana murmured in a slightly bitter tone, placing the cap back on her flask and returning it to her pocket. Upon seeing the wide-eyed look of concern that Veronica wore on her expression in response to Dana's comment, the female vampire scoffed simply. "Don't look at me like that. As far as I know, she's not dead yet. Some vampire's coming after her, and for some weird reason, Stefan and Damon don't want her to die. So, here I am. I'm meant to be helping them look out for whoever it is that's hunting her, but I really can't be bothered. She's annoying, and her whining makes me actually want to drown myself in vervain, so I'm sat in the corner pretending to do what I'm told." Dana commented in a slightly sarcastic tone, causing Veronica's eyes to fill with panic, fearing that someone here could very well be after Elena and could harm her.

"They don't want her to die because they care about her. Stefan loves her. And because he loves her, he wants to keep her safe, that's what you do when you love someone." Veronica commented softly once she had scanned the room with her eyes and was slightly reassured by the fact that she didn't spot anyone that she didn't recognise. Although, she wasn't sure if that necessarily meant that Elena was safe. "Haven't you ever been in love, Dana?" The witch asked, presuming that if the vampire had been alive for so long, she must have surely experienced love at some point. If Damon, the cold evil vampire who seemed to be incapable of conveying any form of emotion other than sarcastic dislike, had been in love then surely Dana herself must have?

"No." Dana's voice answered with a surprising softness, causing Veronica to stop looking around the room and return her attention to the vampire that was crouched on the floor, watching as her fingertips idly ran across the polka dotted material of her dress. "Don't look at me with those sad sympathetic eyes of yours, Ronnie. I've been alive for nearly a hundred years, I haven't been living the life of a hermit, if that's what you're thinking. I've been in relationships before. I've dated people, I've slept with people, I've kissed people, but I've never been in love." Dana commented in a dry tone, running her hand through her light brown hair and slightly mussing it up, although she didn't seem to care in the slightest. "We can't all be cliché romantics like you who believe in love at first sight and the power of true love."

"There's got to have been someone, surely." Veronica spoke softly, refusing to believe that the girl had been alive for that long and no one even come close to making her fall in love with them. Dana merely shrugged her shoulders in response to the witch's prompting as she proceeded to respond in her usual sarcastic manner,

"Nope. I'm quite happy being the awkward loner girl in the corner. I don't really think I'm suited for a relationship, or the white picket fence life. I'd probably end up stabbing someone with the fence." Dana spoke cynically with a small chuckle soon falling from her lips, causing Veronica to let out a small slightly awkward laugh, believing that there was still more to the subject than Dana was letting on. But, regardless, Veronica chose to let the subject be dropped out of respect for Dana. Perhaps when their friendship was a little bit stronger, the vampire would trust her enough to tell her some more about her past love life or just her past in general. It was clear that the past was a very sensitive subject for the female vampire and Veronica didn't want to pressure her. "Anything else that you want to ask me about? Or are you done with your daily attempt to figure me out?" Dana's curious voice inquired, with Veronica soon noticing the large slightly teasing smirk that formed on the girl's expression, causing her to softly giggle.

"I've kinda given up on playing Detective Bennett. You never tell me anything about you, you just lead me around in circles." Veronica spoke softly, soon realising that the incredibly strong alcohol that Dana had given her earlier was beginning to set in. Thankfully, she hadn't actually drunk all that much, so she shouldn't be slurring and doing stupid things that she'd come to regret later. That was her hope anyway. Dana laughed gently at her response, as she gave a small shrug of her shoulders.

"What can I say? I enjoy frustrating you. It's the closest thing that I have to entertainment around here. It's that or I put up with the weird love square that seems to be going on with my family lately and Damon's increasingly weird and desperate attempts to get Katherine back. He was rummaging through the library earlier, looking for his dad's journal." Dana commented in a light hearted manner, as she picked up the plastic cup that had previously contained her spiked punch. "Now, if you go and get me some more punch, I'll answer one question. Okay? Please?" Dana requested, causing Veronica to slowly take hold of the cup, going to turn and walk off in the direction of the punch bowl and Jeremy before she heard someone call out her name. This caused her to glance back, presuming that it was just Dana who had remembered something else that she wanted in her drunken stupor.

However, her heart rate slightly picked up upon noticing that it was Alaric that was making his way through the crowd to approach her. Dressed in a red letterman jacket that Veronica couldn't help but notice that he looked insanely good in, a thought that she soon forced herself to push to the back of her mind as she knew that she shouldn't be thinking about him in such a manner, Alaric seemed to also be going with the 50's theme of the dance. A small smile pulled at Veronica's lips almost immediately as she turned to completely face the teacher, stopping walking so that he could catch up to her. The male returned her smile, as his blue eyes lingered on her for a few moments, almost as if he was studying her before he soon brought his eyes up to meet hers, his attention finally focusing on her brown eyes.

"H-Hello. I didn't know that teachers had to follow the dress code too, Mr Saltzman." Veronica commented in a soft manner as she lightly placed the cup down on the nearby table, the alcohol apparently not strong enough to stop her from being completely awkward but at the same time giving her enough confidence to speak to the teacher first. Alaric gave a small chuckle in response to her playful comment as he allowed one of his hands to slip into the pocket of his thick varsity jacket, keeping his attention solely on her.

"Oh, this?" He questioned, gesturing down at the jacket with his spare hand. "Nah, I just happened to have this hanging around in my apartment and figure I might as well wear it. It looks sort of 50's-ish. You on the other hand… You really went all in for the theme part, didn't you? It's…. It's really impressive." He spoke, with it not taking long for Veronica to realise that she was blushing deeply as a result of his words, a soft giggle falling from her lips as she looked down at the floor timidly, causing her to not notice the look of slight adoration that was held in the teacher's eyes as he watched the girl gently giggle. The teacher's eyes stayed on the girl, his attention being forcefully dragged away when Dana's loud voice caused both him and Veronica to look over in the direction of the female vampire, noticing that she was now back on her feet.

"And I'm out." Dana stated, as she placed her hands up in the air, causing a slight look of confusion to form on Veronica's expression, the blush still clear on her cheeks. "I… I've got things to go do. You know, gotta go and live up to my stalker title and spend time with the… lovely and charming Elena. Have fun, Ronnie. I know what you're like, don't worry too much. The Salvatore clan has got this." Dana spoke, with the smirk that she held on her lips causing Veronica to worry slightly about where her friend was actually going. Her brown eyes stayed on the female vampire, watching as she began to approach Damon who was stood on the far side on the dance floor. Her focus was soon brought back to the teacher when she heard him begin to softly speak to her once more.

"I have something for you." Alaric commented, with Veronica's large brown eyes soon looking up at him. Before she could inquire about what it was, the teacher shot a small nervous look around himself and he then produced what appeared to be a small purple herb from his pocket, with it being just a little bit smaller than Veronica's palm. Alaric gently pressed the purple herb into her open right hand, with it taking Veronica a few moments to figure out what it was, as she presumed that it wasn't lavender and she had seen a drawing similar to the item that she now held in her hand in one of the many spellbooks that her grandmother had forced her and Bonnie to read through when they'd first came into their powers.

"This is vervain. Isn't it?" Veronica asked softly, making sure to keep her voice down low so that none of the vampires in the room would risk overhearing what she had just said. Alaric's eyebrow's furrowed slightly at her question, perhaps wondering how she knew about vervain and its use against vampires, but he soon apparently dismissed that point and nodded in response to her question.

"Yeah. I want you to start drinking it." Alaric answered her question, his blue eyes looking directly in hers once more. "Or make jewellery out of it or something. It'll protect you from them." The teacher spoke softly, a small crooked smile once again forming on his expression. "I can't have my partner in crime getting hurt now, can I?" He playfully asked, causing Veronica to once again let out a tiny giggle at the title that he assigned to her, her brown eyes looking down at her shoes shyly. In her slightly confident state due to the alcohol that was coursing through her veins, she looked back up at the teacher slightly sooner than she had before, some of her stray dark brown hair that had come out of the complex hairstyle after the complicated events of the evening coming down to partially cover some of her face. Her brown eyes settled on the teacher before her, noticing the look that he held within his eyes that she couldn't quite place. It was weird, she almost could have sworn that it was a look similar to one of admiration, but she soon pushed that to the back of her mind. That wasn't possible. He was probably just looking at her, and wondering what had happened to make her quite so giggly and not quite as awkward as she normally was.

"Thank you." The Bennett witch spoke softly, finally breaking the comforting silence that had fallen between them. She then removed the locket that her sister had lent her for the dance as it had gone well with her dress and opened the clasp, placing the herb into her necklace. "I appreciate you looking out for me, Mr Saltzman. You really should be focusing on keeping yourself safe though. I mean… the vampires are dangerous." Veronica spoke softly, as she clasped the necklace around her neck once more, knowing that she'd have to switch the vervain to a different necklace before she gave it back to Bonnie. "I don't want you to get hurt either." The Bennett witch spoke softly, with Alaric once again softly chuckling at her response, with a slight glint appearing in his eyes.

"I appreciate that, Veronica." He spoke with a softness held within his tone, as his eyes directly met with hers. "Then, if it'll make you feel better, we'll protect each other. Just… Allow me to teach you something before you jump in and protect me, okay?" Veronica softly laughed at his reply, as she gave a small nod in response.

"Fine. I'll restrain my Buffy tendencies for now. Just for you." Veronica commented jokingly, the alcohol's confidence once again taking control over her, as Alaric let out a chuckle to show that he was clearly very amused by her comment. "Although, I think you'll find that I'm actually a lot more powerful than I look. It's a Bennett thing. We all look normal, but we're really not." She commented, earning another laugh from the teacher.

"Oh, really? And what can you all do?" Alaric inquired with a small curious tilt of his head, causing the witch to playfully laugh once more, with her soon bringing her lower lip between her teeth.

"A girl's got to have some secrets, Mr Saltzman." She responded playfully, just deciding to allow the alcohol to have complete control over herself, seeing as the teacher seemed to be responding well to her slightly more confident self. He didn't even seem bothered by her silly little giggle that she seemed to be unable from stopping herself from doing.

"Oh, I see. It's the incredible gift of teasing and keeping secrets. Got it." Alaric answered with a loud laugh, causing Veronica to once again blush and let out a timid giggle as she temporarily buried her face in her hands, not really caring if she messed up her make-up or hair slightly with her actions. She'd probably already made herself look like an idiot in front of the guy about twenty times, and the alcohol in her system was telling her not to care, and that he probably wouldn't care about her looking a little bit bedraggled. Slowly she brought her hands away from her face a short while later, her brown eyes looking over at the teacher who seemingly hadn't been pushed away by her awkward mannerisms, shown by the fact that he was still stood before her with his hands in the pockets of his red jacket. "So, then, Miss Keeper Of Many Secrets, I've heard the punch is very good, want to come and try some with me?" He suggested, causing the witch to timidly blush at his question and softly nod, soon following the teacher over to the punch table.

This night seemed to be looking up for her.

* * *

Dana felt a small sigh fall from her lips as she rested against the nearby drinks table, taking a small sip from the small plastic cup that she held in her hands. However, her attention was soon distracted when she was quickly approached by Damon, the elder vampire snatching the drink out of her hands violently and shoving it down on the table. "What the hell, Damon?" Dana asked, wondering what it was that had caused the vampire to get so angry and so antsy quite so suddenly.

"The vampire's here." Damon hissed angrily, his bright blue practically flaring with anger as he looked directly at the younger vampire, causing a look of slight confusion to form on her expression. "He's after Elena, Stefan just told me, we need to go. Now." Damon demanded, grasping hold of Dana's wrist and beginning to violently pull her towards the door, causing the female vampire to angrily seize her wrist back.

"I can walk, you don't need to drag me around like a disobedient toddler." Dana snapped at Damon before she proceeded to quickly make her way through the crowd, following Damon as she did so as he seemed to be the one who knew where it was that Elena had run off to in an attempt to get away from the vampire, with her soon being led to the cafeteria. As the two vampires stepped through the oddly heavy double doors, almost instantly Damon raised his hand and was able to catch hold of what seemed like an attempt to make a stake of some kind, causing Dana to temporarily worry that there was another hunter in town other than Alaric.

Almost immediately, her bright blue eyes were brought to the scene before her, noticing Stefan and Elena stood on the far side of the cafeteria, with Stefan standing in front of her protectively, glaring angrily down at the vampire dressed in complete black that was on the floor. As the vampire that Dana didn't recognise let out a growl and went to get back up, Dana abruptly sped forwards, grabbed hold of the vampire's head and slammed it down against the table, using enough force to hurt him but not enough to kill him in order to attempt to prevent him from getting back up. The vampire let out a groan of pain as she did so, with Dana looking back at Damon as the elder vampire spoke once more.

"Hey, dickhead." Damon called, causing the mysterious vampire to look up in a slightly groggy manner, a noticeable scarlet mark left on his forehead from Dana's attack that was quickly beginning to heal. "Nobody wants to kill you. We just wanna talk." Dana's light blue eyes stayed on the vampire that was down on the floor for a few moments, waiting for him to make a move. It didn't take long before the vampire allowed an almost maniacal smile to form on his expression, quickly getting up as he went to charge at Elena quickly, causing Dana to grasp hold of his jacket and use all the strength that she could physically muster to fling the vampire against one of the many vending machines in the cafeteria. A loud clatter and a thud filled the room as his form collided with the plastic machine, with Dana quickly speeding over to him, using one hand to pin him against the machine as she turned back to face Damon. Seemingly, Damon picked up on what she wanted, as he threw the wooden stake like object that he held in his hand over to her, causing Dana to harshly stab it into the vampire's stomach the mere moment that she caught it. The mysterious vampire let out a loud groan at the sensation, something that Dana completely ignored as she roughly grabbed hold of his jacket and threw him over in the direction of Stefan, the vampire soon slumping to the floor in front of the younger Salvatore brother and his girlfriend.

"Now, let's try that again." Dana stated as Elena looked at her in slight horror, apparently shocked by the brutality of her actions.

"Now you feel like talking?" Stefan asked, raising an eyebrow as he did so. Dana stood by the vampire, more than ready to attack once more if he refused to give any form of answers, a slightly angry look burning within her eyes as she looked down at the vampire.

"Screw you." The vampire growled angrily. Dana moved to pick him up once more, quite happy to continue throwing him against things around the room, but she was beaten to it by Stefan as the vampire proceeded to grasp hold of the stake that Dana had pushed into the vampire and with a strange amount of venom for the supposed pacifist, he twisted it. This caused the vampire to let out a loud groan of pain and bow his head slightly. Dana grasped hold of his hair, angrily tugging it back so that he was looking back up at Stefan as the vampire once again let out a noise of anger. "Do that again, and you'll regret it." He spoke aggressively, referring obviously to what Dana was doing, causing the female vampire to roll her eyes and let go of his hair although his eyes still stayed on Stefan and Damon before him.

"Wrong answer. Why are you doing this?" Stefan demanded to know.

"Because it's fun." The vampire answered simply in what Dana perceived to be an almost mocking tone. Although Stefan didn't seem to appreciate the jokes of the vampire, as he once again twisted the stake in his stomach, earning another loud noise of pain that didn't cause Stefan to even flinch.

"What do you want with Elena?" Stefan demanded to know, causing Dana to softly sigh in response and hold her hand out for the stake.

"If you actually want to get answers out of him, give that to me. I can be incredibly persuasive with my methods when I want to be. I can almost guarantee that I'll get him to talk quicker than you can." Dana instructed, feeling as though they weren't likely to get anywhere at the rate that they were going, and the supposedly peaceful Stefan wasn't likely to want to carry on with the aggressive tone that the interrogation seemed to have started off with. Dana, on the other hand, had absolutely no issue with doing so. Stefan's green eyes looked up at her, almost as if he was contemplating allowing her to take over, before the vampire spoke once more.

"She looks like Katherine." The male vampire commented, causing all four of the other people in the room to look at him in pure confusion, each one of them clearly wanting to know the answer to one question. How did this vampire who had seemingly come out of nowhere know Katherine if she had been in the tomb since 1864? Had he been around before then?

"You knew Katherine?" Damon asked, verbally revealing what all of them were thinking about in that moment, taking charge of the conversation as he always had a tendency to do.

"Of course he did. I'm beginning to think that I'm the only vampire who doesn't know the infamous Katherine Pierce. I'm really missing out." Dana mumbled in her sarcastic tone, earning her a small glare from Damon that signalled that he wanted her to be silent. As always, Dana merely rolled her eyes. If she wanted to talk, then she'd do so, nobody was going to stop her from doing so.

"Oh. You know, it's cute that you think you were the only ones. I bet you two don't even remember me." The vampire on the floor spoke up, causing Dana to let out a small sigh of annoyance. After taking a small glance in his cousin's direction to make sure that she wasn't about to angrily launch herself at the older vampire, Damon proceeded to lean forwards slightly, moving so that he was closer to the vampire on the floor.

"Tell me how to get in the tomb. Hmm?" Damon requested in what could almost be mistaken for a polite tone if Dana didn't know Damon better. The vampire that was slumped down on the floor looked up with a slightly weakened look, Dana's eyebrows slightly furrowing as she wondered for a few moments if the vampire was going to tell Damon what he wanted to know as he moved forwards slightly.

"No." The vampire concluded, causing Dana to once again roll her eyes in exasperation, soon stepping towards the vampire on the floor and placing her hand on the stake and forcefully pushing it deeper into the vampire's chest which earned another groan of pain from him.

"You know, I'm beginning to get bored of wasting my time with you." Dana spoke coldly, her icy blue eyes glaring at him as she bent down slightly. "Now, I'm not like these two here. I have no issues with killing you the mere moment that you cease to be useful to me, or the moment that you annoy me too much. I don't care about preserving Elena's innocence." Dana spat with venom in her tone. "So, before I decide to do something very violent with those eyes of yours, how about you tell us what we want to know?" Dana interrogated the vampire, soon hesitantly releasing her grasp on the stake, leaving it in Stefan's hands as she stood upright. She swore that she almost saw a very distant and small look of anxiety deep within the vampire's eyes as he looked over at Damon.

"The grimoire." The vampire answered, clearly not wanting to give away the information, with him soon shooting a small glare in Dana's direction. The female vampire raised an eyebrow at the response, with it taking her a few moments to figure out what he was talking about. Witches had Grimoires, it was where they recorded their spells in and given that Emily Bennett had been the one to spell the tomb shut, presumably they were looking for Emily Bennett's spell book.

"Where is it?" Damon questioned almost immediately and when the vampire stayed in silence for just a little bit too long, Damon looked over in the direction of Stefan and Dana, gesturing to the vampire on the floor. Stefan instantaneously drove the stake deeper into his chest, earning another groan of complaint from the vampire. His eyes slightly widened when Dana took another step towards him, apparently not wanting the female vampire anywhere near him.

"Check the journal!" He abruptly exclaimed, causing Dana to look at him in slight confusion, waiting for him to carry on talking. "The journal! Johnathan's journal… Johnathan Gilbert's."

"Who else is working with you?" Stefan prompted him and when he didn't almost immediately get an answer, Damon basically repeated his words, asking,

"Who else is there?" The vampire looked up with a weakness in his eyes, with Dana being able to guess just purely from the way that he was looking up at them that there was indeed someone else that he was working with, someone that he wanted to protect and didn't want to give up.

"No. You're gonna have to kill me." The vampire insisted, with Dana's eyes soon going to Damon and Stefan, wanting to make sure that they too were comfortable with killing off their information source. Damon shot a quick look of confirmation in Dana's direction once he had looked at Stefan, a slightly curious look in his eyes, as Dana merely nodded in response. She knew exactly what he was asking without him even having to speak.

The moment that Dana gave her nod, Stefan proceeded to quickly tug the wooden stake out of the vampire's chest. He stayed still only for a matter of seconds before he staked the other vampire directly in the heart, causing a slight gasp to fall from Elena's throat as the vampire's skin began to turn that familiar shade of grey that came with desiccation. Dana simply watched as the vampire lay motionless on the floor, his skin covered in the very noticeable pronounced veins that meant that he was now well and truly dead, with her attention being brought away from the sight when Elena began to talk.

"What do we...how are you gonna find the others now?" The young woman inquired in a clear state of panic as a result of what happened, with Dana turning back to face her, not entirely sure what she should say. She could tell that she wanted some form of reassurance that they would find whoever did this and deal with them, but she had no idea how to provide that.

"He had to die." Damon responded simply. Elena opened her mouth, going to protest the conclusion that the vampire had reached, before Stefan spoke, supporting Damon's conclusion.

"Elena, he's been invited in." Stefan commented softly, causing Elena to softly sigh in response.

"Yeah, and wouldn't it be a tragedy if you or Jeremy were to die in your sleep? Where would we be then? Who would we fight to protect?" Dana questioned, with the look that Elena soon gave her suggesting that she wasn't quite sure if the vampire was being sarcastic with her words or not, causing a small and slightly mischievous smirk to form on Dana's lips. The vampire went to speak, before the sound of a soft bang reached her ears, causing her to turn away from Elena. Her blue eyes widened upon seeing a very familiar figure through the pane of glass at the top of the door, partially staring at them and the dead body that lay before them.

Alaric.

Damon almost immediately took a few steps towards the door, causing the teacher to disappear from sight, with the vampire soon glancing back at his brother. It was weirdly almost as if he was checking for permission to go. Stefan softly nodded at Damon's silent question, as he spoke, "Go. I've got this." The instant that he was told he could go, Damon began to quickly head for the door, with Dana soon chasing after him as she wasn't too sure that she could trust him to be alone with the history teacher. If he thought that he knew something, then Damon would almost definitely kill him, and seeing how close the teacher seemed to be getting to Veronica lately, Dana didn't want that to happen.

"God damn it, Ric, why's it always you?" Dana mumbled softly to herself as she followed Damon out of the cafeteria, just hoping that she would be able to prevent him from doing something stupid.

Dana wasn't quite sure how she'd explain it to Veronica if she allowed her precious history teacher to be harmed or killed.

 **AN: And I'm going to end it there! Thank you very much for reading, I hope you enjoyed! If you have a moment, please leave me a review to let me know what you thought and I'll see on Monday for the next update!**


	30. Chapter 29: Take My Hand

**AN: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, any of the characters or the plot, that belongs to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. I solely own Dana and Veronica. All rights go to their original owners.**

Dana quickly sped after Damon as he headed after the teacher, coming to a quick stop a short distance behind Damon. Her blue eyes watched as Alaric gave Damon a slightly nervous smile, with Dana being able to hear the sound of his heart slightly picking up within his chest as his eyes settled on Damon. Dana stayed still, getting ready to move in case Damon went to attack the teacher, her eyes soon settling on her cousin. A small, slightly awkward cough came from Alaric, gesturing that he was attempting to clear his throat so that he could talk, with Alaric soon stating, "Hey." Damon completely ignored the teacher's greeting, as his icy blue eyes looked directly into his, showing that he was beginning to compel him.

"What were you doing?" Damon asked calmly, causing the teacher's body to relax, his eyes slightly widening slightly as he showed all the symptoms of being compelled. Alaric's own blue eyes looked down at the vampire, almost as though he was unable to pull his eyes away, causing Dana to lightly bite down on her lower lip as she couldn't help but wonder why a vampire hunter wasn't on vervain. Perhaps he just didn't know about vervain, and that was why they were able to compel him. That was the only logical conclusion that Dana could come to in those moments.

"Looking for Ms. Hilden." The teacher responded in an almost monotonous tone.

"Why are you in Mystic Falls?" Damon compelled him once more, clearly wanting to get all the answers regarding the slightly mysterious teacher. Out of respect for Veronica, as she knew that the mere moment Damon knew there was a hunter in town he would kill him, Dana hadn't told either Stefan or Damon about Alaric and what he truly was. Hopefully, that would be the way that it was going to stay.

"I got a job as a teacher." Alaric answered simply.

"Do you know what we are?" Damon prompted, presumably referring to himself, Stefan and Dana with his question.

"You're my students and my student's brother." Alaric responded to the question almost instantly.

"Is everything you're telling me the truth?" Damon asked.

"Yes." Alaric breathed softly, his monotonous tone never once wavering or shaking, causing a small and slightly smug smirk to pull at Damon's lips as a result of his answers. Dana felt a small sigh of relief fall from her lips at Damon's next response.

"Then forget we had this conversation." Damon spoke, finally breaking eye contact with the teacher, with him taking a few steps forwards before he noticed that Dana still hadn't moved. The vampire looked back at her in slight bemusement for a few moments, as he soon proceeded to ask, "Are you coming or are you just going to stand here all evening?" Dana shot a small glare in her cousin's direction, before she stepped towards the teacher, placing her hands on his shoulders and forcing him to look down at the shorter female.

"Go back to Veronica." The female vampire began to compel him, her voice calm and instructive, her blue eyes looking up into his. "Make sure that she doesn't come looking for me for the rest of the evening, distract her in any way that you can, I don't want her seeing this. You won't remember that I told you to keep her away from here, but you'll do it." Slowly, the female vampire blinked, believing that would sever the compulsion, as she softly added on, "Now, excuse me, Mr Saltzman." The female soon proceeded to speed to Damon, her eyes looking back at Alaric for a few moments, hearing the slightly soft gasps that the teacher let out as his brain attempted to cope with the compulsion that had just taken place. With something that could almost be considered sympathy in her eyes, Dana's blue eyes lingered on him before she forced herself to look away, knowing that showing any form of emotion in front of Damon probably wouldn't be a good idea. The only way to get through to Damon as he currently was was to show no fear and show that you were of some form of use to him, and the cold older Salvatore brother had little to no time for sympathy.

And besides, she was the one who had caused the teacher to be like that by compelling him again. He almost definitely did not need her sympathy.

* * *

Veronica wrapped her arms tightly around herself as she softly shivered upon feeling the cold night air brushed against the bare skin of her arms. The cold air danced along her skin, causing her to softly rub her arms in an attempt to stay warm, her chocolate coloured eyes roaming her surroundings in an almost nervous fashion. A short while ago Alaric had left her, claiming that he needed to go and get something from his office and when he hadn't come back about half an hour later, Veronica had feared that she'd driven him mad with her nervousness and awkwardness or that he'd grown bored of the slight confidence that Dana's alcohol had given her. Admittedly, the effects of the alcohol were gradually beginning to wear off, owing to the fact that she hadn't drunk all that much, so perhaps that was the issue? The young witch's naturally nervous mind jumped around, frantically leaping from conclusion to conclusion, not entirely sure which one she believed the most. She was pretty sure however, that it was something that she had done that had driven him away. She was too awkward and shy for anyone to put up with for too long.

She'd stepped outside in an attempt to try and find some clarity of mind, but the cold merely seemed to be causing her to focus on how cold she felt rather than the internal debate she was having. However, the young woman was soon brought out of her thoughts altogether when she heard a male voice call out to her. "Oh, this is where you are, thank God. You worried me for a few moments there, I thought that something had happened to you." The witch turned on her heel, glancing over her shoulder as she soon caught sight of Alaric standing a few inches away from her, a clear look of relief on his expression. The witch gave him a small and slightly nervous smile as she directly turned to face him whilst the teacher took a few steps towards her, his blue eyes lingering on her. "Are you alright?" Alaric inquired, causing the witch to weakly nod in response.

"I… Uh, I'm fine." Veronica shyly answered, brushing some of her hair away from her face. "I just… I needed some air, I don't deal well with busy, crowded places for too long." Alaric nodded softly at her response, as he casually rested against the nearby white stone pillar for a few moments. Deciding that whilst she still had some form of confidence as a result of the alcohol that was burning through her veins, she softly asked, "Can… Can I ask you something? You're probably sick of my questions, so you don't have to. Not if you don't want to." An expression of intrigue soon came over Alaric's face as a result of her question, with him soon standing himself upright as he softly nodded in response.

"You can ask me anything that you want, Veronica." The teacher reassured her, a tiny smile pulling at his lips, something that the witch was pretty sure would fade once she asked her question.

"How… How do you know Damon?" She questioned, as the events of the evening had made her remember that day in the Grill and the way that the teacher had reacted to Damon sitting down at the far end of the bar. It was clear that he knew him somehow from that reaction, and Veronica couldn't help but be curious about it. She needed clarification. Just as she had assumed, the teacher's expression faltered slightly at the mention of the elder Salvatore brother's name, his blue eyes looking rather intently down at the ground for a few moments before his attention returned to Veronica.

"Who do you think killed my wife?" Alaric's voice asked, with it being thick with emotion and slightly trembling, causing Veronica's eyes to widen slightly. Her hands lightly shaking as the true weight of that question sunk in, the young woman looked up at him, a clear look of sympathy contained within her eyes.

"I'm sorry, I… I shouldn't have asked." Veronica spoke softly, feeling bad for forcing the teacher to relive that particularly dark moment of his life once more, internally scolding herself for even thinking that it would be alright to ask him that question. Truthfully, the Bennett witch was surprised when the teacher softly shook his head, raking a hand through his slightly messy light brown hair.

"You didn't know. Honestly, I'm glad you asked." Alaric insisted, taking a moment to briefly pause and swallow down the lump that had formed in his throat once the Bennett girl had asked her question. "It… I think that it's helping me to talk to you about it. You're the only person that I can be truly honest with." The teacher admitted with a slight hesitation to his tone, causing Veronica to lightly bite down on her lower lip, his words about honesty truly hitting her. "I… I guess that you know about Dana too? I just ran into her in the hallway and tried to compel me to come out and talk to you, so I'm presuming that she's…" The teacher's soft voice once again spoke, causing her to look over at him, lightly nodding in response to both his spoken and unspoken question.

"She's not like Damon. I know… I know that she might come across as being a bit aggressive, but she's different. She might not want to admit it, but there is something human within her. I'm certain of it." Veronica spoke with an air of certainty within her voice. She knew that her belief that was something redeemable within Dana may just been her being her usual optimistic and dumb self, but she truly believed it. Deep down, even if they were cruel and cold like Dana, and even to some extent Damon, people could be redeemed. No person in her eyes could be considered truly evil. "So, please, please don't go after her. She's good." Veronica almost begged the teacher, her voice holding a nervous shake as her dark brown eyes met his.

It took a few moments, before the teacher slowly nodded, clearly feeling uncertain about promising not to hurt her. Giving him a small grateful smile, the young Bennett witch looked up at him, before a soft exhale of breath soon fell from her lips. "There… There's something else that I haven't told you." Veronica spoke softly, deciding that if he had told her everything that there was to know about him, she owed it to him to tell him everything. "I can understand if you've had enough of me dumping things on you, but I feel as though I owe it to you to be honest, even if it might mean that my Grams kills me when I get home." A look of bewilderment formed on the teacher's expression as his blue eyes stayed on the witch, watching as she proceeded to bend down and pick up a small, brown leaf from the floor before her. Placing the object flat on the palm of her right hand, the witch allowed her left hand to hover slightly over it, her brown eyes soon softly closing. In those moments, the young Bennett girl was placing a lot of trust in the teacher, trusting that he wouldn't go around and tell everyone what she had just done and trusting that he wouldn't just stab her on the spot upon realising what she really was and trusting that he wouldn't be absolutely terrified of her.

Veronica soon began to recite the now slightly familiar levitation spell under her breath, feeling the power of her magic soon flood through her veins, suggesting that the spell she was reciting was actually working. The witch allowed herself to temporarily lose herself in the sensation of magic, not entirely used to it due to the little amount of magic she did. However, she slowly opened her eyes upon remembering her grandmother's warning about how dangerous magic could be if you truly lost yourself in it, or if you were to allow it to overwhelm you. Her dark coloured eyes looked down at the leaf that she had been holding in her hand, a large smile forming on her lips as she saw that the leaf was indeed floating between her two hands, showing that her spell had worked. Tentatively she brought her attention back to Alaric, fearing that when her eyes met his he would have a stake in his hands, ready to kill her.

However, the young witch was surprised when she saw that the teacher was merely stood there, watching the floating leaf with his eyes slightly widened in shock and confusion. As Veronica's brown eyes lingered on him, the hunter brought his attention back to her, his blue eyes looking directly into her brown ones with his expression softening as his eyes met hers. The young witch soon brought her hands together, bringing the spell to an end, as she spoke quietly, "I'm a witch." Alaric's mouth opened, with him clearly attempting to find the words to say, an action that once again filled Veronica with a slight fear. Once again her heart rate picked up within her chest, her nervous mind going into overdrive, with her fear only being settled when the teacher commented,

"That… Was awesome." Alaric spoke his words in a slightly breathless tone, suggesting that he was slightly in awe of what he had just seen, causing a small giggle of relief to fall from the witch's lips. Allowing the leaf that she had just been levitating to float down to the floor, the Bennett witch's large brown eyes looked up directly at the teacher, noticing the slight glint that was contained within his eyes as he looked over at her. "Are you the only one?" Alaric inquired, as the witch softly shook her head.

"There's tons of us. Me, Bonnie, my Grams and my ancestor Emily are the only ones that I know of, but I'm sure that there's more than that." The witch answered softly, giving an honest answer. "I think most of my family's been witches for centuries, so, you know, it's no pressure or anything." Veronica commented lightly, causing Alaric to let out a weak laugh. "I'm… I'm not a very powerful witch though, so… You don't have anything to fear. You won't have to break into my house and kill me. You- you know, if that's what you were thinking of doing." Veronica stumbled over her words, her fear that the teacher was still going to kill her clear in the way that she spoke. Alaric looked at her, soon allowing his head to tilt before he softly chuckled.

"You have nothing to worry about, Veronica. Like I said earlier, you're my partner in crime. Can't exactly go killing you off now, can I?" Alaric inquired in a playful manner, causing the witch to weakly smile, her dark coloured eyes looking directly up into his as the teacher ran his hands through his hair. "Besides, I can't exactly kill off my favourite student." Alaric added on with a softened look held within his eyes, causing Veronica to softly blush, brushing her hair back. Truthfully, she had come to believe that was some form of nervous tick from the vast amount of times that she'd done it that evening. It was getting a tiny bit annoying now. After wrapping her arms around herself tightly for warmth once more, she felt a small sigh fall from her lips, her attention returning to the building behind them as the loud sound of the dance music once again started up. This song was slightly slower than the ones that they'd played before, something that Veronica would actually consider dancing to if she had someone to dance with.

"So, that's it for my sudden plot twists this evening. I, uh, I'm sorry if I made this evening a tiny bit too dramatic for you." Veronica abruptly spoke, her nervousness apparently once again taking control of herself, causing her to abruptly blurt out what was on her mind in those moments. "You'll be glad to hear that I have no further secrets. So… No more drama from me, I promise." She trailed off softly, a small and weak laugh falling from her lips. "I didn't even get to dance." The young witch commented, her awkwardness once again taking control. "After how long she spent trying to make me look somewhat decent, I don't think Care's gonna be too impressed, so I think that maybe I'm gonna just sneak home before she notices me." Veronica rambled, internally cursing herself for allowing her awkwardness to take over as it always seemed to do.

The young witch went to turn back around, before she felt a hand softly take hold of her wrist, lightly pulling her back around. Veronica slightly stumbled as she turned back around, soon realising that Alaric had approached her and been the one to lightly take hold of her wrist. Her expression softened as she looked up at him, wondering what he was about to do. She was incredibly surprised when the male raised her hand and lightly twirled her around, a smile pulling at his lips as he did so. Hesitantly, the young witch brought up her other hand and rested it on his shoulder, causing Alaric to slowly release his grasp on her wrist and take her hand in his. The warmth of his larger hand wrapped around hers was weirdly comforting and reassuring, and caused another shiver to run down her spine. The teacher pulled the young woman closer to him, his spare hand that wasn't entwined with hers slowly coming down to settle on her lower back. Veronica's heart pounded within her chest as the teacher began to slowly dance a fairly slow waltz with her, with her actually being slightly surprised by how naturally the moves seemed to come to him. There was a delicacy to his movements, with Veronica almost swearing that he was treating the young woman as though she was made out of glass. Although Veronica had never been one who had felt that she needed to be protected or treated finely, she found herself oddly liking the gentle way he held her as they slowly danced in the dim light of the school parking lot.

Veronica found herself being able to keep up with the movements of the teacher, being rather surprised that she hadn't already managed to stumble over her own feet with how naturally clumsy she was. She hadn't even glanced down at her feet once to check that she wasn't stumbling or getting the moves completely wrong as she normally would if she was dancing with Jeremy or Matt as she had done in the past. Instead, her dark coloured eyes seemed to be unable to pull away from the dark sapphire eyes of the teacher before her, watching the look of what she almost could have sworn was adoration that would occasionally burn within his eyes as his eyes met hers. The sound of her heart pounding loudly within her chest had quietened as time had gone on and she had found herself being more secure and comfortable in the situation that she was in, with her almost believing that her heart was now beating in sync with the sound of the music that was blaring through from the school building behind them.

The young Bennett witch was soon brought out of her thoughts when she felt the male's hand that was resting on her lower back move slightly, with the young woman being rather surprised when Alaric gracefully tipped her backwards, with Veronica soon noticing the smile growing on his lips as he held her in that position for a few moments before he soon brought her back upright. Veronica allowed her hand to once again return to resting on his shoulder when she was returned to her upright position, with them beginning to just slowly sway until the music changed to another song. The mere moment that the tempo of the song changed, Alaric stilled, his eyes directly meeting hers once more as his expression soon softened. Veronica's breath hitched in her throat as her eyes lingered on his, a slightly nervous feeling running through her body as the teacher gave her a gentle grin. "I hope that made up for the lack of dancing this evening." Alaric spoke in a light hearted manner, causing Veronica to nervously laugh.

"A-A-Are you trained in dancing, or something?" The witch shyly stumbled out. "Be-Because, admittedly, I haven't danced with a lot of people, b-but that was possibly the best dance I've ever taken part in." She complimented timidly, causing her to be rewarded with a small chuckle from the teacher, with Veronica taking a brief moment to assess what had just happened. She had just danced with her history teacher in the parking lot of her school. Although she knew that many would probably label that as being wrong, in those moments, Veronica couldn't really care, in an oddly careless moment for her. She knew that she probably shouldn't have, but she really enjoyed dancing with him, and she was pretty certain that she would never forget this moment.

Slowly, the Bennett witch was brought out of her thoughts when Alaric slowly brought his hand away from her lower back, and his blue eyes went to their linked hands, a weak smile tugging at his lips as he did so. Veronica's own brown eyes went to their hands, with her almost feeling slightly hesitant to let go as the teacher began to slowly untangle his fingers from hers. However, not wanting him to feel overwhelmed, the witch released her grasp on his hand, allowing her own hand to soon fall back down to her side. Her eyes glanced around for a few moments, slightly relieved to see that no one was around them. No one had seen their little dance, no one would be able to get either her or Alaric into trouble for what had just happened. The very last thing that she wanted was for Alaric to get punished for what had just happened between them, not after everything that he'd been through.

"If it means anything, that was probably one of the best dances I've ever had too." Alaric commented softly, shattering the silence that had fallen between them, as he slowly took a step back, allowing for personal space between him and the Bennett witch. "Are you still going to be heading home?" Alaric asked, causing the witch to remember what had been running through her head when she'd been stood out here previously. Apparently, Alaric had a tendency to overtake her thoughts quite easily, but the witch wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. Weakly, managing to regain control of her body and its actions, she softly nodded in response to his question. Heading home now would probably be a good thing, it wasn't as if she had anything to hang around for. "Well, I mean, I'm pretty sure that the dance is about to end." Alaric mused, glancing down at his watch for a few moments, before his attention almost immediately returned to Veronica. "We've got about five minutes left. I don't think they'll kill me too much if I leave a bit early. Are you alright with me walking you home?" Alaric asked, the slightly protective side of him that had briefly shown up when he had given her some vervain earlier in that evening and during their dance once again showing up. With a shy blush forming on her expression, the witch softly nodded, accepting his offer.

"If you're alright with walking me home, that is. I… I don't want to risk getting you into trouble." Veronica admittedly softly, wrapping her arms around herself once more. Alaric gave a small chuckle at her response, as he softly shrugged his shoulders in a playful manner.

"I'll live with the consequences." Alaric commented softly, approaching Veronica's side as the pair began to slowly walk in the direction of the exit of the school. "One thing though." He commented, causing the witch to look over at him in slight confusion, her heart pounding loudly as he unzipped his red varsity jacket and lightly draped it over her shoulders in a gentlemanly manner. "Don't want the local witch freezing, do we?" He inquired in a light hearted manner, causing a small smile to pull at Veronica's lips, her blush slightly intensifying as she walked and took hold of the jacket, pulling it tighter over her shoulders.

"Th-Thank you." Veronica spoke softly, her dark coloured eyes looking up at the taller man by her side as they began to walk.

This evening hadn't been anywhere near as bad as she had believed it would be.

 **AN: And I'm going to end it there! Thank you very much for reading! I hope that you enjoyed! Please leave me a review to let me know what you thought and I'll see you on Friday for the next update!**


	31. Chapter 30: Her Eyes Saved His Life

**AN: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, any of the characters or the plot, that belongs to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. I solely own Dana and Veronica. All rights go to their original owners.**

Dana felt a loud groan fall from her lips as she was violently pushed out of bed that morning, her body landing on the floor by her bed with a thud. Almost immediately she sped back up onto her feet, allowing the darkened veins to appear underneath her eyes as she believed that she was under threat, until she soon caught sight of Damon stood on the far side of her bed. "Oh, wow, I'm so scared. Ahh." Damon commented dryly, placing his hands up to act as though he was scared, causing Dana to roll her eyes and allow her veins and fangs to recede. "Although, I'll admit that you attempting to attack me would be a very amusing way to start the day." Damon added on, causing Dana to cross her arms over her chest.

"Can I help you? Or are you just here to annoy me?" Dana asked in her cold tone, an incredibly unimpressed look on her expression. Damon's smirk grew at her clearly very annoyed response, a slight glint of mischief held within his eyes.

"Now, now, there's no need to get snarky, Dana." Damon commented in an infuriating tone, causing the vampire to once again roll her eyes. It was far too early in her opinion to be putting up with Damon's rather inane sarcastic comments. "Anyway, so, the vampire from last night. I think that we should all talk about how we're going to find this journal thing. You, me, Stefan and Elena." Dana looked at him, her eyebrows raised.

"Well, thanks for explaining, because I totally thought that you meant we were going to be meeting with the Bennett witches." The female vampire spoke with a slightly harsh tone, the lack of sleep that she'd experienced clearly affecting her and only exaggerating her natural abrupt mannerisms. "Do we have to do it this early? Could we not, you know, meet in the afternoon or something?" Dana demanded to know, causing Damon to let out a small sigh of frustration.

"I want this tomb open as soon as possible, and you and Stefan want me gone as soon as possible. Is there any point in waiting around just so that you can get some much needed hours of beauty sleep?" Damon commented teasingly, as he headed towards the door. Dana let out a slight noise of exasperation, as she picked up one of her pillows and angrily threw it at the vampire in the doorway in an attempt to vent her annoyance at him. "I'll be out here. Put some proper clothes on and then we'll have the true fun of waking up Elena and Stefan. I bet they'll be almost as amused as you were." Damon commented teasingly, shooting another small smirk in her direction, before he left the room and closed the door behind him. Dana sighed in annoyance, lightly stomping her foot down on the strong wooden floorboards of her bedroom in an attempt to stop herself from allowing the emotion to overwhelm her and result in her breaking something, before she approached the closet. She decided, as much as she didn't like doing what she was told by those around her, she would get less hassle if she did what Damon told her to do and went to speak to Stefan and Elena with him.

Besides, if they found the grimoire sometime soon, Damon would leave, and the people in the town that she wanted to keep safe for Veronica's sake would be able to go around living their lives once more.

That was her hope anyway.

It didn't take her long to get dressed in her usual casual style of jeans and a dark t-shirt, running a brush through her hair before she left her room and almost immediately came face to face with Damon. Her icy eyes looked up at him as she crossed her arms over her chest, a slight gaze of defiance held in her expression as she did so. Dana didn't even need to speak, as Damon softly scoffed and soon pushed himself up from the wall he'd been leaning against, beginning to head off in the direction of Stefan's bedroom with Dana soon following him. Admittedly, given how little she thought of Stefan, she didn't really want to encounter him this early in the morning or spend any more time with him than she already had since she'd come back to this town, and she almost definitely did not want to walk in on him making out with his equally irritating girlfriend. That was some imagery that she almost definitely didn't want to see. But, she got the feeling that she would have no choice in the matter, and that Damon would force her in anyway despite any protests or objections she might have.

After reaching the room, Dana gestured for Damon to head in first with a clearly fake smile on her lips, with the vampire soon sauntering through in his usual casual manner. It didn't take long for Dana to follow after him slowly walking into the room, almost immediately regretting her decision as she watched Stefan and Elena softly kissing each other and cuddling together underneath the thick blankets. A slight scowl pulled at Dana's lips at the sight of affection, as Damon sat down on the end of the bed in a careless fashion.

"Rise and shine, sleepyheads." Damon commented, clearly wanting to make the pair in the bed aware of their prescence, as Dana soon added on,

"Yes, please do, before I violently vomit up what I last ate because I'm stuck watching you two try and eat each other's faces off." As the female vampire made her sarcastic comment, Stefan and Elena abruptly bolted upright in shock, with Elena almost instantly pulling the covers up to cover up the elements of her body that she didn't want either Damon or Dana to see. Stefan slightly mirrored her actions, although there was a less of a nervousness held on his expression and more of an annoyance.

"Damon, Dana, please!" Elena exclaimed, causing Dana to lightly roll her eyes for what she swore was the fiftieth time that morning as the vampire nonchalantly rested against the strong wooden doorframe that was just behind her, not wanting to get any closer to the couple in the bed than she had to.

"Seriously, what are you two doing?" Stefan demanded to know with an authority in his voice, his green eyes staying on Damon as he asked his question.

"Oh, stop being smutty." Damon teased mockingly, causing Dana to run her hands along her face in slight annoyance, her caerulean eyes soon going to the couple in the bed.

"If it means anything, I was forced to be here. I would much rather be asleep right now, but someone forced me to come along and act like I have some form of team spirit." Dana reassured the pair, shooting a small glare in Damon's direction once she had stopped speaking causing the elder vampire to softly chuckle.

"I told you that you're adorable when you're mad. You're perhaps the most unintimidating person around, Dana." Damon commented playfully, causing Dana to give another angry glare at him, before her attention went back to Stefan and Elena as Stefan pulled the covers up to fully cover Elena as much as was physically possible almost as if he actually cared about making sure that Damon didn't see too much. She strongly doubted that he was covering up Elena for her benefit.

"Right, great, but seriously, the pair of you, get out!" Stefan instructed, with Damon not even seemingly mildly alarmed by his younger brother's instruction. In fact, he just seemed slightly amused that his brother thought that he could tell him what to do.

"If I see something I haven't seen before, I'll throw a dollar at it." Damon began in a sarcastic manner, as Dana soon piped up,

"And I'll run out of the room and go douse my eyes with vervain to prevent the emotional scarring. So, don't worry, I think we're all good." Damon laughed softly at her response, with it being a slightly infuriating and mocking laugh, before the elder vampire soon added on,

"As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, we have some very important business to discuss."

"And it has to be now?" Elena inquired, once again cutting the vampire off with a slight tiredness held in her tone. Apparently, she didn't approve of being woken up at this ridiculous time any more than Dana herself did, a rare similarity between the normally completely opposing vampire and human.

"Well, we have lots to do, now that we're all friends and working toward a common goal." Damon responded to the human's question with the smirk still held on his expression. "And, as I told the ever charming Dana, the sooner that we find that book, the sooner that I leave and you can spend all the time that you want being romantic in bed." Damon added on, with Dana feeling a slight look of confusion form on her expression as she watched Elena and Stefan shoot each other a small look as a result of Damon's answer. It was a look of secrecy, which suggested that there was something that the pair of them knew that Damon, and presumably Dana, didn't know. Not that Dana was especially surprised that the pair of them were hiding something. She wouldn't expect Stefan to be honest for once.

The female vampire continued to lazily rest against the wooden door frame, not really wanting to move from her position as she watched Damon soon get up and stand a short distance away from the bed. "So, in order to open the tomb, we need to find the journal to get the grimoire to undo the spells. First things first-since you are Elena _Gilbert_ , you're on journal duty." Damon spoke, pointing at the young woman that was curled up underneath the blankets, causing a look of confusion to fill her dark coloured eyes.

"Since when am I helping?" Elena asked a short while later, as Dana soon softly sighed.

"Well, Stefan's helping, and you've taken up residence in Stefan's bed, ergo..." Damon responded, trailing off, with it not taking long for Dana to interrupt in her usual bold and carefree manner.

"And I don't exactly think either one of us really has a choice here, darling Elena." The female vampire spoke coldly, earning her a slight look from Stefan, signalling that he wanted her to shut up which was a warning that Dana as always ignored as she added on, "I'm used to being forced to do stuff that I don't want to do by these two. If you want to stay in this world, get used to it."

"Yes, thank you, Dana. It's good to see that you haven't learned how to shut up in the past 60 odd years that you've been immortal." Damon commented, looking back at his cousin for a few moments. "And you're still just as annoyingly opinionated as you've always been." Dana allowed a small scoff to fall from her lips in response to Damon's comment.

"Thanks, Damon, love you too." Dana bantered back, a small smirk on her lips, before the sound of Stefan letting out a slight sigh of annoyance caused her to look back over at the pair in the bed as Stefan soon turned to look at Elena with a slightly bored look still burning within his green eyes as he looked to the woman that he loved.

"You don't have to do anything that you don't want to do." Stefan reassured her, almost as if he was speaking in response to Dana's comments about her being regularly forced to do things that she didn't want to do by both of the brothers over the years, causing her to release a mocking scoff once more although Dana chose to stay silent aside from that. Stefan clearly wanted her to believe that. Dana's blue eyes soon went to Elena as she slightly slumped down and took hold of the blankets tightly in her hands, pulling them up slightly.

"I'll look for it tonight." Elena mumbled softly as she pulled the covers up and over her face, completely hiding herself from Damon and Dana.

"Good." Damon commented upon hearing Elena's response, with Dana soon pushing herself upright, presuming that they would now be leaving the room and that she would be able to get on with her day. She felt like going to see Veronica, although she didn't want to wake her up too early, so she'd probably have to kill some time before going to the Bennett house. Damon would probably make a comment about her stalker tendencies showing once more, but Dana didn't really care. She'd not exactly been a very social butterfly during her immortal life so far, so now that she actually had someone that was close to being a friend, she would go and see her when she wanted. Even if that did mean having to put up with Elena, Caroline, Bonnie, Jeremy and all of Veronica's other friends who were far more irritating to Dana. However, the vampire soon realised that they wouldn't instantly be leaving the room as Stefan slowly sat up, apparently feeling as though the conversation they'd been having wasn't really over.

"How do we know that this journal will hold the location of the grimoire? We're really going to take the word of this vampire? He seemed like a bit of a dimwit." Stefan mused with a slight look of confusion held on his expression, causing Dana to run a hand through her hair.

"In lieu of any other options." Damon answered in his usual dry tone.

"And besides, if you come up with any more genius plans to get this stupid tomb open, please, do let us all know, Mr Genius." Dana added on in a sarcastic tone, causing the younger Salvatore brother to sigh and run his hand across his face in time for Elena to pull down the covers slightly and quickly sit up with her dark coloured eyes looking at Damon and Dana.

"Okay, what exactly is a grimoire, anyway?" Elena demanded to know once she'd sat herself up, propping herself upright on her elbows as she continued to study the two Salvatores that had barged into the room so early in the morning. Dana brought her eyes to Damon a short while later, not really being bothered to try and give a response to Elena, as the elder Salvatore brother answered her question.

"It's a witch's cookbook." Damon answered. Dana shot him a small look of disbelief at his decision to label something that was actually incredibly significant and powerful to witches as a cookbook. Admittedly, Dana hadn't really befriended many witches over the years, and thus had no real reason to get offended for Damon's comment, but as per usual, Dana decided to make her opinion known to the others in the room.

"Wouldn't suggest saying _that_ to a witch's face." Dana spoke, placing emphasis on the word that she used to refer to Damon's previous comment and clarification. "Think they're slightly important to witches, they might actually kill you for being insulting to their traditions or something." Damon chuckled weakly at the female's comment, as he soon turned around to glance at the vampire in the doorway with an amused look that was held on his expression.

"As I think Dana was trying to say, every spell that a witch casts is unique unto itself so every witch would document their work, probably in a book. It's personalised to them." Stefan mused in agreement with Dana's words, causing the female vampire to tilt her head partially, but not say anything. He was far closer to helping Elena understand what a Grimoire really was than Damon was.

"Yeah, cookbook." Damon mused, a slightly playful manner to his voice, looking back at Dana with a mischievous glint in his eyes, clearly just using the term once more to wind up the female. Dana shot him a small and teasing glare, before her attention returned to Stefan a short while later, upon hearing him speak an issue that had been at the back of Dana's mind following the events from last night.

"What about our mystery vampire? Dimwit obviously wasn't working alone, so whoever's out there knows who we are." Stefan mused softly, causing Dana to lightly bite down on her lower lip. It was very logical that the vampire who had clearly only wanted to go after Elena to have some form of fun and games wouldn't be working alone. From the way that he had responded to both Stefan and Damon asking him if there was someone else he was working with had basically confirmed it, and truthfully, Dana had no idea what this other person wanted. Did they want the Grimoire? Did they want Elena, like seemingly every evil person they'd encountered since they'd come back to this town had wanted?

"Well, if you want me to bring out my skills, I'm more than happy to do so." Dana commented with a slightly cold look in her eyes, referring naturally to the interrogation skills that she'd shown last night. She was quite useful when it came to getting information out of people that they didn't seem to be willing to confess. Or that was her opinion anyway. There was bound to be those who would disagree with her, probably Elena, and would claim that her methods of using violence to get answers was unnecessary but Dana didn't really care about that. She didn't really seem to have any form of conscience most of the time, doing things merely because they suited her, or because she was bored and wanted some form of entertainment, so the thought of torturing someone to get what she wanted didn't bother her all that much. Damon shot his cousin a small look of confusion as a result of her words, before he soon turned back to face Stefan and Elena.

"Well, I'll bear that in mind if we ever find them, thanks, Dana, helpful as ever." Damon spoke sarcastically. "But, I seriously don't like the disadvantage of not knowing who it is that's working with them, so…" Damon trailed off, as he soon clapped his hands twice, representing the speed that he wanted their actions to have. "Chop, chop." Damon added on, with Dana softly sighing with relief as the vampire began to approach her in the doorway. "You know, I really like this whole ménage a foursome team thing. It's got a bit of a kink to it." Damon teased playfully as Dana stepped through the doorway and back out into the hallway, with the female vampire soon turning back to face her relative as he took approached the doorway. A small chuckle came from him in response to the severely unimpressed look that was worn on Dana's expression, before he added on in a light hearted and spirited manner, "Don't screw it up!" Upon leaving the room, Damon's blue eyes looked down at his shorter family member, the small smirk still painted on his lips. "Now, Dana, because I know how much you love me, I want you to go with them when they look for the journal." Damon spoke, as Dana softly sighed, and soon gently nodded.

"Fine." Dana answered bluntly, knowing that disagreeing and claiming that she didn't want to go anywhere with Stefan and Elena, due to her strong dislike of them wouldn't get her anywhere. "I'll go with them. Does that mean that you'll finally leave me alone?" She asked cynically, earning her a small laugh from Damon. Not answering her questions, Damon soon began to head off in the direction of his room, leaving Dana completely alone in the hallway as she groaned in frustration to herself upon realising that she would have to spend yet another day going on a seemingly pointless quest with Stefan.

So much for her peaceful day.

* * *

Veronica allowed a small whimper to fall from her lips as the sensation of someone lightly shaking her shoulder and quietly speaking her name brought her out of the nice dream that she'd been having, with the young witch soon allowing her dark coloured eyes to partially open. After taking a few moments to fully adjust to the light in her room and being awoken, she soon realised that it was her grandmother that was attempting to wake her up. "Wh-What's going on?" Veronica questioned softly, her question being cut off by a small yawn escaping from her lips. The girl brushed back her messy dark coloured hair from her face so that she was actually able to see, as her grandmother softly smiled at her.

"There's someone here to see you, child." Her grandmother spoke softly, causing Veronica to give a small look of confusion, before leaping to the conclusion that it was probably Dana. As a gentle sigh fell from her lips, the younger Bennett witch nodded softly, soon flopping down onto her back on the bed.

"Would you mind telling them that I'll be down in a little bit? Please?" She murmured softly, rubbing the sleep from her dark coloured eyes in an attempt to wake herself up. Her attention soon went to her Grams once she had done so, giving her a small polite smile when the elder woman nodded softly, soon leaving the room. "Thank you." Veronica called out to the woman as she closed the door behind her, a small yawn once again falling from her lips. She raked her hands through her messy, scruffy hair before she soon decided that the only way she was going to find out what it was that Dana wanted was to get up and get out of bed, causing her to slowly and hesitantly clamber out of the warm cocoon of her duvet, shivering softly as the early morning air ran across the parts of her skin that the large dark coloured shirt and blue plaid pyjama bottoms that she wore to sleep in weren't currently covering up. Ruffling her hands through her hair, the young woman tiredly stumbled over to her dresser and began to get dressed. After doing so, and running a brush through her hair several times to attempt to calm down the knots in her hair, the young woman left her bedroom. As she headed down the stairs, the young woman found herself coming to a stop a few steps up from the bottom of the stairs upon catching sight of the person that had come to visit her in the living room, realising that it wasn't Dana as she had expected.

It was Alaric.

The Bennett girl's heartrate slightly increased as her eyes studied the teacher that was stood in the living room by himself, one of his hands planted firmly in his pockets with a large black duffle bag being held in the other as he casually looked around the room at all the photographs that her grandmother had placed around the room of their small family. It took the witch a few moments to convince her legs to start moving once more, slowly walking down the stairs and heading towards the living room, causing the teacher to turn to face her, a small smile pulling at his lips as he did so. It seemed as though the gesture was almost automatic. "Good morning, Veronica." Alaric greeted her softly, almost as if he could tell that she had just woken up. Reservedly, the young witch smiled back, allowing some of her dark coloured hair to come down and partially cover part of her face, knowing that at some point during this conversation, she would end up blushing. The witch had noticed that even with the most simple and innocent of comments, Alaric could make her blush, and she wasn't too sure why he had such an effect on her.

Admittedly, she couldn't deny that she found the teacher to be attractive, even though the logical part of her brain told her that she shouldn't view him like that, because, honestly, anyone who could look at him and deny that he was good looking was lying. With the insanely deep and beautiful blue eyes that he had and the whole rugged vibe that he gave off, he'd probably had girls going after him his entire life, and he'd probably drawn several girls' attention since he'd arrived in town. The more time that she'd spent with him, Veronica had grown attracted to his personality too, perhaps even more so than she was attracted to him physically. He was funny, incredibly intelligent and caring, traits that he gave off every single time that the pair of them talked. He was patient, putting up with her awkwardness and stuttering on a regular basis.

His wife was a lucky woman.

At the thought of Isobel, Veronica forced herself to banish any thoughts of finding the teacher attractive to the very back of her mind, wishing that she could get rid of them completely. He was married. The whole reason that he was spending so much time with her was because she was helping him look for her, the woman that he loved more than anything. Carrying on and encouraging those sorts of thoughts about Alaric were merely going to get her hurt.

"G-Good morning, Mr Saltzman." Veronica greeted the teacher softly, her dark coloured eyes looking up at him as she forced herself to remember that he was just her teacher. Perhaps they could be friends if they continued to work together, as they seemed to get on quite well, but nothing more than that. Especially when they eventually found out what Damon had done to Isobel. Bringing her lower lip between her teeth, the young witch soon softly asked, "Wo-Would you like some coffee? Is… Is there something that I can help you with?" Alaric's cobalt coloured eyes looked down at the younger woman before him, the smile on his lips slightly growing, before he softly shook his head at her question. He quickly glanced around the room, almost as if he was making sure that her grandmother and Bonnie weren't anywhere in sight, before he brought his hand out of his pocket.

"I… Listen, this may just be me being paranoid, so please, don't judge me too much." Alaric began, causing the witch's eyebrows to furrow slightly, being slightly confused by his words but she didn't question him.

"Sit down, please." She spoke politely, gesturing to the couch that was a few inches away from them, the manners that her grandmother had brought her up to have clear in those moments. "I promise that I won't judge you, Mr Saltzman. You can be completely honest with me, I promise." A look of gratitude formed on Alaric's expression at the young woman's words, as he slowly placed his bag down on the end of the couch and soon sat down beside it. Veronica slowly approached the couch and sat down at the opposite end of the couch so that she didn't risk invading the teacher's personal space, bringing her legs up so that she was effectively curled up in a small ball, not wanting to take up any more of the couch than was necessary. Her chocolate coloured eyes lingered on Alaric, as he proceeded to pull the bag onto his lap, unzipping it and soon pulling out a large silver item, with wooden stakes strapped on to the bottom of it. It took the Bennett witch a while to realise that it was some kind of weapon, a launcher, perhaps? Her eyes lingered on the silver and black device that the teacher held in his large hands, before her eyes looked back up at him, a look of curiosity held on her expression as she did so.

"After seeing Dana and her family do what she did last night, killing that vampire, I figured that I should give you that little lesson that I promised you. Or, at the very least an introduction into how to defend yourself. I know that you said she's good, but… I want to make sure." Alaric explained softly, as his eyes gestured down at the device that he held in his hands. "I carry this around with me. I normally keep it in the back of my car or in my locker at school, I made it." The male added on, a slight look of pride soon appearing in his eyes at the revelation, as a slight glint of admiration was held within the Bennett witch's dark chocolate coloured eyes. She found it incredible to think that he'd managed to make that all by himself, it just showed off quite how intelligent he was. The witch just wished that he had been able to discover his genius and technical ability under some better circumstance. Her eyes remained on Alaric, watching as the teacher soon reached into his bag and pulled out four wooden stakes, smooth to the eye and impeccably pointed at the end.

Alaric's comforting gaze soon returned to the witch, as he held out the bundle of stakes to her, clearly wanting her to take them. Gingerly she took hold of them, her fingertips slowly running across the smooth surface of the carefully made stakes, before her attention went back to Alaric. "I want you to keep those. Carry one around with you if you think that you're going somewhere dangerous, please. Obviously, I can't force you to do any of this, but…" Alaric commented as he moved forwards slightly, closing the gap between them a short amount, a small slightly playful smile pulling at his lips as he did so. "The closer that we get to going after Damon, the more dangerous that it gets to be close to me. I want to make sure that you're as safe and protected as you can be. I'm not sure that I could live with myself if something happened to you because of me, Ronnie." Alaric added on, his voice slightly thickening with emotion as he spoke, causing the witch's expression to soften, and her cheeks to turn a faint pink colour in shyness. "Is it alright for me to call you that, by the way? I should have probably checked before I called you that, but, you know," Alaric added on in a slightly unsure tone, with the witch almost immediately softly nodding in response.

"Yeah, you… You can call me that. Most people call me by some form of nickname." Veronica reassured him with a bashful smile on her lips, with her soon allowing more of her dark coloured hair to come down and obscure her face to try and prevent the teacher from noticing the blush on her cheeks. She was well aware how annoying her blushing, stuttering and general shy tendencies could be, and she didn't want to risk driving him away. "Th-Thank you, for these, by the way." She spoke, lightly holding up one of the stakes that Alaric had given to her, a cheerful glint held within her eyes as she looked over at Alaric. "I… I really, really do appreciate you looking out for me. I mean, I've… Other than Bonnie and my Grams, I've never really had someone look out for me all that much. Admittedly, the only thing that I've ever really had to be protected from in the past was Tyler Lockwood and his group of jocks who used to bully me when I was in middle school, not vampires that could kill me before I could even blink. I… I'm rambling, I'll shut up now. I… I just wanted to say thanks." Veronica spoke, well aware that she was getting far away from the topic at hand, causing her to slowly bring her lower lip between her teeth with a small chuckle soon falling from Alaric.

"There's no need to apologise, Veronica. You can ramble all you want. I don't mind listening to you rambling." The teacher reassured her, causing the Bennett witch's blush to deepen noticeably, a timid laugh soon falling from her lips. Her brown eyes looked up at him, her eyes partially obscured by her dark curtain of hair, before she slowly brushed it temporarily away from her face. "And, you're welcome." The teacher spoke, his voice now containing a noticeable softness as his blue eyes stayed on hers. "If you want to be actually taught to use anything more advanced, I mean, I did technically promise to teach you how to whittle, you only have to ask. I'll show you how to use this, if you want." Alaric offered, giving a small hand gesture to the launcher that was still on his lap, causing Veronica to softly and slowly nod.

"I'd like that." She spoke quietly, her voice being just audible enough for Alaric to hear her, causing him to softly nod, soon slipping his hand into his pocket once more, the motion slightly bemusing Veronica. She watched him, as he proceeded to use his other hand to place the launcher back into his duffle bag, soon producing a piece of paper and a pen. "I could get in massive trouble for this. Both with your Grams and other people." The teacher mused, only deepening the Bennett girl's confusion, wondering what he was about to do.

"I can make fire with my mind, I promise I'll keep you safe." Veronica spoke in what was supposed to be a playful tone but due to her social awkwardness, it just came out a slightly awkward reassurance, but from the look on the teacher's expression he appreciated it all the same. He lightly scribbled something down on the piece of paper, as he soon held it out to the young woman, with her soon realising that he'd written a cell phone number down on the piece of paper.

"This is my number. If you're ever in danger, want to talk, or just want to arrange that training session, text me or call me." Alaric explained, with the witch soon feeling the odd feeling of butterflies in her stomach as she slowly accepted the number from him.

"Th-The same goes to you." Veronica stumbled over her words, as she soon produced her phone from her back pocket, and added Alaric's number to her contacts, soon sending him a small test message of 'hi' so that the teacher would have her number in his phone too. "If… If you ever need my help, or you want to talk, I'm here. I promise." She reassured him, not ever wanting him to feel as though he was completely alone. The witch wanted to help him in any way that she could, the fact that she cared about him as much as she did making her want to look after him. That might make her dumb in some people's eyes, that she would allow her compassion to rule her that strongly, but she didn't care. She'd rather care about everyone around her and protect them and take the risk of getting hurt than be heartless.

"Even if it's at three am or something. I'm… I'm sure that you'd far rather talk to someone else, but… but, you know. I'm here." She added on softly, realising that the teacher probably had his own friends and family that he could turn to in times of need. He probably didn't need her looking out for him and supporting him. However as the teacher softly smiled and pulled out his phone, presumably adding her number to his contacts as he did so, he didn't seem to give off the vibe that he didn't want her help or support. In fact he gave off nothing but gratitude, although Veronica couldn't help but wonder if he was just doing that to be polite, that he didn't want to risk offending the young Bennett girl by telling her that he didn't want her help. That was the conclusion that her insecure mind went with, as she soon came out of her thoughts upon feeling Alaric's hand lightly rest on her upper arm for a few moments.

Her brown eyes looked over at him, her expression softening once more as their eyes met, Veronica's heartbeat echoing up into her ears once more. She felt as though it wasn't normal for someone to have this large of an effect on her, especially given that they'd only known each other for a few weeks at the very most. The short amount of time that they'd known each other only further supported her belief that all she felt towards Alaric was merely just a physical attraction, a silly schoolgirl crush that mustn't be encouraged and nothing more than that. Eventually, she would get over it. Her breath caught in her throat as the teacher's fingertips slowly brushing against the fabric of her shirt as he slowly moved his hand, allowing it to flop down by his side.

"Thank you, Ronnie." Alaric's voice spoke softly, his voice containing a lot of emotion that Veronica couldn't quite recognise as the teacher soon let out a small cough, attempting to clear out his throat. "And that is why you're my favourite student." He added on, clearly trying to add an element of humour to the conversation, earning a small laugh from Veronica. "I think that I should probably get going before your Grams comes back and kicks me out for distracting her granddaughter from her witch studying. Besides, I've got stuff to do at the school." Alaric spoke playfully, slipping his phone back into the pocket of his jacket and pulling his duffle bag up onto his shoulder. As the teacher slowly rose to his feet, Veronica's large brown eyes looked up at him.

"Mr… Mr Saltzman?" Veronica's soft and lightly shaking voice inquired, causing Alaric to turn back to face her with a look of intrigue on his face, clearly wondering what the young witch was wondering. "I… I've got some spare time today, and I… I was wondering if you wanted me to maybe do some research into Damon? I could talk to Dana, she might tell me something or go to the library, if he's been around for a while there might be some record of him there. I mean, I… I don't think it's a good idea to go up against someone that you know nothing about. I mean, I don't really know how vampires work, I've not really… I've only known that they existed for a few months, but I might find something important. I might… I might find a link between him and Isobel." She spoke softly, her voice holding a clear hesitancy to it. She wasn't too sure if it was a good idea for her to be looking into the Salvatores, as there was a chance that Damon might come after her if she asked too many questions, but she wanted to be helpful in any way that she could. Given that she couldn't craft weapons for the fight, research was the only real thing that she could contribute. Alaric softly grinned down at her upon hearing her question, as his blue eyes looked down at her with a noticeable glint held within them.

"That would be very helpful. If you're sure that there's nothing that you'd rather be doing with your day than helping me, then go right ahead. Let me know if you find out anything important." Alaric responded gently, causing the Bennett witch to softly nod in response. "I'm going to get going. Thank you for the help, Ronnie. Look after yourself, and I'll see you around." Alaric spoke softly, raising one of his hands in a small wave as he headed in the direction of the front door.

"Bye, Mr Saltzman." Veronica spoke quietly as she returned the small wave goodbye, her dark coloured eyes staying on the male as he headed out of the door and shut it behind him a short while later, leaving Veronica alone in the living room. A gentle sigh fell from her lips as she once again raked her hands through her messy dark coloured hair, her brown eyes looking down at the series of stakes that were now placed on her lap for a few moments.

Well, that had been a rather different and nice way to start the day.

 **AN: And I'm going to end it there! Thank you very much for reading! I hope you enjoyed! Please let me know what you thought of this chapter and I'll see you in the next chapter on Monday!**


	32. Chapter 31: A Bump You Never Get Over

**AN: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, any of the characters or the plot, that belongs to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. I solely own Dana and Veronica. All rights go to their original owners.**

Dana felt a small sigh fall from her lips as she casually rested against one of the many counters in the Gilberts kitchen, her blue eyes lingering hesitantly on Elena as the female began to rummage through one of the many cardboard boxes that she'd brought out of storage in order to search through for the journal. "So, why are you actually here, Dana?" Stefan's voice questioned whilst Elena continued to search through the boxes, causing the female vampire to let out a slight noise of annoyance as she looked over at her cousin with a clearly facetious smile on her lips. "I mean, it's clear that you're not helping Damon to find this journal because you care about him getting Katherine back, and I know that you don't really care all that much about getting him out of town since you seemingly prefer him a lot to me, so why are you helping?" Stefan added on, as Dana lightly sighed.

"Because I'm bored and have nothing better to do?" Dana suggested in response, using a clearly sarcastic tone as she spoke. "I don't have to explain all of my motives to you, Stefan, you should just be glad that I'm helping. And anyway, while we're on the subject, why are you two helping him? I thought that you were against him getting Katherine back? I mean, I know that you're fickle, Stefan, but really?" Dana responded in a teasing tone, pushing herself forwards from the counter that she was resting against. Elena shot a small look of slight guilt in Dana's direction upon hearing her words, a gesture which only caused Dana to look at her in slight confusion. "And again, with the secretive glances, they're beginning to infuriate me. Stefan, tell me what you're up to, or I will not hesitate to rip off little Elena's vervain necklace and compel her to go and play in the traffic." Dana spoke coldly, causing Stefan to quickly tense, his mood soon shifting. After shooting a small look of confirmation in Elena's direction, the vampire softly sighed, running his hands through his hair before he turned to face Dana. Sat at the breakfast bar a short distance away from her, Stefan soon allowed his green eyes to meet Dana's fiery blue ones as he responded,

"I told Damon that I was going to help him get Katherine back." The vampire cut himself off, allowing another sigh to fall from his lips as he trailed off. "But it was a lie. I can't allow him to open that tomb and set all those vampires on the town. But, I needed his trust. It'll keep him calm and distracted for a while." Stefan finished explaining, as Dana gave a small nod in response.

"Please, don't tell him, Dana." Elena's soft voice practically begged, causing the female vampire to look over at the young human that was knelt on the floor on her knees, noticing that she had finally finished rummaging through the boxes to focus her attention on the female vampire. "Please. We need him to believe this." Elena added on, causing the female Salvatore to give a small shrug of her shoulders, soon returning to her counter and pushing herself up so that she was sitting on the pristine white counter.

"You do realise that I don't care about him getting Katherine back either, right?" Dana questioned honestly, causing Elena's brown eyes to fill with confusion. "I don't. I never met Katherine, and don't care if Damon gets her back or not. It's of no consequence to me if he's happy with the supposed love of his life. So, you don't need to give me those large doe eyes of innocence, Elena, I'm not going to tell him. I have literally no reason to tell him." Elena softly nodded in response, a look of clear thankfulness held within her dark brown eyes as she did so. The female soon turned back to resume rummaging through her boxes, and Stefan also seemed to be content with her answer as he continued to sit casually in his seat at the breakfast bar. The group stayed in silence for a few moments, each person in the room apparently quite content to just get lost in their thoughts, until Elena's voice filled the room and shattered the relatively peaceful silence that Dana had actually been rather enjoying.

"Do you think Damon really believes us? That we're trying to help him?" She inquired, looking more at Stefan than she was at Dana, as the male vampire lightly bit down on his lower lip, with it taking a few seconds before he responded,

"I don't think Damon knows what to believe. Trust isn't something that comes naturally to him. It sort of runs in the family." Stefan's eyes soon looked over to the female that was sat on the counter, an almost expectant look held in his eyes as he did so.

"He didn't say anything to me, if you're expecting me to magically reveal the answer." Dana spoke dryly, allowing her head to flop back casually, resting against one of the large cupboards as she did so. "All he said to me was that he wants to get that journal soon, and he seems to be getting really impatient. That's it." Dana informed the pair, a small sigh of irritation soon falling from her lips. "Oh, and he told me to come with you, I don't know if that means anything or if he just wanted to get me out of the house."

"You know...I really think that Damon believes that everything he's done, every move that he's made, he's done for love. It's twisted, but kind of sad." Elena spoke softly, leaving a few moments in between hers and Dana's comments.

"Another reason that I'm glad that I've never fallen madly in love. Honestly, from all of the stories that I've heard from you two and my own experiences of relationships, I'm beginning to truly believe that it's just a waste of time." Dana mused softly, causing Stefan to look over at her with a slight look of confusion held in his gaze.

"So, you didn't love Russell then?" Stefan inquired in a curious tone, causing Dana to let out a laugh at the mention of the male from her past, her icy eyes soon looking over at her cousin.

"No. Trust me, I don't miss him at all. You really do love bringing him up, don't you?" She asked in a cold tone, not appreciating Stefan and Damon's tendency to bring up Russell whenever they wanted to get to her or just whenever they wanted to make a point to annoy her.

"Who's Russell?" Elena asked softly, causing Dana to shoot a small glance over at the woman on the floor, a slight anger held in her gaze as she did so.

"None of your business, Gilbert. Get back to box searching or talking about Damon." Dana instructed coldly, causing Elena to lightly bit down on her lower lip, soon turning back around and continuing to search through the box. Apparently, she had also picked up that mentioning Russell was a sensitive point for Dana. Stefan allowed his hand to run across his face, as the room once again returned to a state of relative quiet and peace for a few moments. But the mere moment that Dana had begun to enjoy the fact that she wasn't being forced to interact with the two people in this town that she quite possibly hated the most, Stefan's voice filled the room once more, breaking Dana's peace and quiet once more.

"There are other ways to get what you want. You don't have to kill people. Damon has no regard for human life. He enjoys inflicting pain on others. For 145 years, every single time that I have let my guard down and let Damon back into my life, he's done something to make me regret that. I'm not going to make that mistake again." Stefan spoke his opinion on the matter, as his eyes briefly glanced over at Dana. "You might completely hate me and want me dead, and would probably kill me at the first opportunity you got, but I'd trust you before I trust Damon. You might not want to admit it, Dana, and you might want to act as though you have no humanity, but I know what you're really like. That's why I trust you." Dana scoffed in response to his words, as her blue eyes looked over at him.

"Gee, thanks. Sorry, the feeling's not returned. I'd trust Damon before I trust you. I'd trust anyone before I trusted you." Dana murmured softly, raking a hand through her hair. She wasn't all that surprised when Elena spoke once more, and brought the conversation back to where it had been previously before Stefan had made his little aside to Dana.

"What do you think will happen if the tomb gets opened and Damon gets Katherine back?" The female questioned, a slight fear held within her voice that almost seemed to suggest that she didn't really want to know the answer to her question.

"I think that no matter what Damon promises, a lot of people will die." Stefan answered, clearly giving his truthful feelings on what would really happen if Damon were to open the tomb which caused a shaking sigh to fall from Elena's lips, the female temporarily stopping rummaging through the box before her as she soon pulled out what appeared to be a photograph from the box and placed it on her lap. Dana stayed where she was, being able to vaguely make out who the person in the photograph was from where she was sitting, whilst Stefan proceeded to get up onto his feet and approach the young woman knelt on the floor so that he could get a better look at the photograph.

From what the vampire could see, it was an old photograph of a man. The sepia photograph showed the man as being young-ish, with a modest beard and moustache, a dark coloured hat and a very unamused expression on his face. It reminded her a tad of the photograph of Katherine that Stefan seemed to carry around everywhere with him, although she didn't make that comment.

"That's Johnathan Gilbert." Stefan explained to the two women, as Dana hesitantly pushed herself off of the counter and approached the pair in front of the box.

"Wow, he looks like he's having fun." Dana spoke, crossing her arms over her chest, earning her a slightly discouraging look from Stefan in response. Apparently, her sarcastic comments truly weren't appreciated in those moments. Elena didn't make a comment, instead, she merely delved back into the cardboard box and pulled out a wooden box that was just large enough to fit into the hands of the young woman. A look of curiosity formed on Dana's expression at the sight of the box, wondering what was in it, as she knew it would be far too easy if they found the journal right then and there. This was Mystic Falls, nothing was ever that simple.

"What's this?" Elena mused, apparently having the exact same line of questioning that Dana herself had been having, as she opened the box to reveal a very old fashioned looking muzzle. It was built out of what appeared to be either brown leather or cloth and metal, with the metal presumably being the part that would have gone over the mouth of the dog or whatever creature this weird device was used to contain. Dana's eyebrows furrowed slightly, her blue eyes going to Stefan as he seemed to have all of the answers around here lately. Judging from the look on Stefan's expression, he recognised the item, but before Dana had a chance to instruct him to tell her what was going on, Jeremy soon entered the room.

"What are you guys doing?" Jeremy asked as he caught sight of Elena in front of the box, a playful smile pulling at his lips as he did so, with the young boy soon coming to a stop a short distance in front of them. Jeremy casually rested against one of the nearby surfaces, his dark coloured eyes observing the group as Elena almost immediately closed the box that contained the muzzle as if she were trying to hide it from her sibling, and placed it back into the large cardboard box along with the photograph of Johnathan Gilbert.

"Hey. Just going through some stuff, feeling sentimental. Dad had this old family journal from years ago. I thought I'd dig it up." Elena explained softly what they were doing, obviously not telling him the whole truth. However, her answer caused Jeremy to shoot a small questioning look in Dana's direction as he pushed himself up so that he was sitting on the counter nonchalantly. Apparently even he was aware of the fact that Dana wasn't really the biggest fan of Elena or Stefan, something that Veronica had probably made him aware of, and he was probably curious as to why she was here spending time with them both, but he didn't verbally question it and instead soon returned his attention to Elena.

"Johnathan Gilbert's journal?" Jeremy asked inquisitively, causing Dana's eyebrow to raise in bemusement, wondering how the young boy had managed to come into contact with something that had supposedly been lost for so long but before she had a chance to ask how the boy knew about it, Elena cut her off.

"Yeah, what do you know about it?" Elena inquired, as she gave a small tilt of her head, using a light-hearted tone so that it didn't seem all that important if they found the journal or not.

"I just did a history report on it." Jeremy answered confidently, resulting in Dana's eyes narrowing slightly as a result of his answer, her curiosity gradually increasing.

"Oh." Elena spoke, taking a moment to look up at her younger brother, a look of intrigue held within her dark brown eyes. "So, where is it now?" Truthfully, in those moments, Dana found herself hoping that the boy was going to answer that it was just up in his room on his desk or something. Although she knew that things in life were never that easy, just for once, she wanted them to be. She wanted to resolve this issue sooner rather than later, and if they found the journal this quickly, then Dana could actually start going about her day and actually having some fun with her life rather than just following around Stefan and Elena all day.

However, Jeremy almost immediately ruined her hopes of actually being able to do something enjoyable with her day when he gave his answer. "I gave it to Mr Saltzman. He wanted to see it." Jeremy informed them. Elena looked up at Stefan almost immediately, as the female vampire sighed to herself and raked her hands through her brown hair. That man just seemed to have a knack for getting himself right in the middle of things, didn't he?

Why couldn't Veronica have gotten a crush on some form of hermit or something? That would have made all of this so much easier.

* * *

Alaric felt a small sigh fall from his lips as his fingers idly ran through his light-coloured hair, his blue eyes coming up once more from the book before him. Glancing around the dimly lit classroom that was lit up by the singular lamp on his desk for a few moments, against his will, his mind drifted from the topic at hand once more. That was the reason why he had been sat here for so long, constantly re-reading the same couple of pages. His mind chose the worst moments to drift and remind him of her.

Veronica.

He knew that he shouldn't be thinking of her, at all. It was wrong for him to do so, but he couldn't really help it. There was something almost enchanting about her, almost magical about her. A weak chuckle fell from him at that thought, rather appreciating the irony of the comparison. Truthfully, although he would never admit it verbally, he'd realised from pretty much the first time that they'd spoken to each other that she was a lovely, kind hearted young woman. She might be a little bit awkward and nervous when it came to talking to others, but he found that endearing. Her stumbling was cute. Dancing with her at the dance the night before, the teacher had found himself feeling things that he hadn't felt in a long time, holding her in his arms and being able to keep her safe for those few moments was something that his mind kept bringing up. The way that his heartrate had spiked when her large eyes had met his, how right it had felt to hold her hand tightly in his and just how beautiful she'd looked in that blue dress that she'd worn. At that thought, the teacher ran his hand across his face, refusing to go any deeper down that rabbit hole. He couldn't go there.

No matter what his own feelings were, he couldn't allow himself to encourage that. It was wrong, and it would probably just end up getting him hurt further. Why would she be interested in him in that way? She was just a compassionate young woman who was looking out for a man who had nothing else, that was all. Bringing his lower lip between his teeth for a few moments, the teacher soon brought his attention back down to the book, deciding that perhaps if he truly tried to lose himself in the journal and the written words, then maybe his mind wouldn't go to the young woman and her captivating chocolate eyes.

 _I met Barnette and Giuseppe this evening. I saw the scepticism in their eyes when I showed them the compass._

Those were the words that were precisely written at the top of the next page that the teacher was pretty sure that he hadn't read yet, as his eyes carefully read the tale that Johnathan had written about. The male had gone to a meeting with Giuseppe Salvatore, someone who he presumed was a distant relative of the Salvatore brothers and Dana, and Barnette Lockwood, a man who was presumably related to Tyler and the Mayor. The group had discussed a plan that involved the local church in order to get rid of the vampires that supposedly plagued the town during this era, with Giuseppe being a firm believer that the plan would work. Their meeting had been interrupted by one of Giuseppe's sons, with Alaric feeling a shiver run down his spine when he read that the son was called Stefan.

There was no way that was a coincidence.

Alaric continued to read, reading that Giuseppe had been certain that both of his sons would be willing to help with the plan, before another sigh fell from his lips. Picking up the book, the teacher began to head towards the photocopier, believing that having more than one copy of this would probably be a good idea. Especially given that this journal wasn't his, and he would eventually have to give it back to Jeremy. Having more than one copy would enable that he would be able to read it again whenever he needed to, which would probably be useful if it did turn out that there was something incredibly important in this journal about either Damon or Stefan. Placing the book down on the photocopier, the familiar loud whirring of the machine filled the room as it began to copy the first page. Alaric allowed himself to casually rest against the machine, once again getting lost in his thoughts as he every so often would lift up the book and move it to the next page so that it could be copied.

If Damon and Stefan had been around since the late 1800's, how long had Dana been around? The journal had never mentioned Giuseppe having a daughter, so she definitely wasn't the same age as them. On the system, she was referred to as their cousin, but there was a very strong probability that her being their cousin wasn't true. It was probably just the title that they gave each other to make it easier or to help to construct their façade that they were just normal teenagers. Alaric's large hand ran across his face as the machine began to photocopy the final page of the Gilbert journal, a slight sensation of worry running through him as he wondered why Dana had been so insistent on inserting herself into Veronica's life. Although Veronica had promised that Dana was one of the good ones, and that she wouldn't allow her to harm anyone, Alaric still worried. He'd noticed that Dana's mannerisms were very similar to Damon from the little time he had spent with the older Salvatore brother. She seemed to be quite cold, and could quite easily turn violent if she didn't like you, shown through the way that she treated Tyler. Was Veronica likely to be in danger?

Alaric was brought out of his thoughts when the machine stopped whirring, suggesting that it had finished copying the pages. He carefully picked up the incredibly old journal, along with the warm newly photocopied pages that the machine had deposited in the small tray to the right, and soon headed over to the row of lockers in the far corner of the faculty lounge. Opening the one on the far left, as that was his locker, the teacher proceeded to place the pages up at the very top of his locker, deciding that he didn't need them right now. He'd carry on reading them once he got home, as continuing to muse about the Salvatore family and the danger that they posed to everyone around him right now would only drive him further into paranoia. After shutting his locker and locking it behind him, the teacher carried the journal with him as he headed back to his classroom. After throwing the book down on the desk before him, Alaric sat down, a small sigh once again falling from his lips as he soon picked up a nearby stack of papers that he'd been deliberately avoiding marking for quite a while now.

Picking up the familiar red pen that he usually used to mark, Alaric's blue eyes began to study the answer that this particular student had written, only getting to leave one tick before the sound of quick movement coming from outside in the hallway caused him to quickly look out into the pitch-black corridor. A slightly nervous breath fell from his lips as he soon called out, "Hello?" Alaric sat there for a few moments, waiting for some form of response, hoping that it was just a student that had decided to break into the school and cause some trouble for a dare, and not the far darker alternative of a vampire.

When he didn't get any form of response, Alaric slowly got onto his feet and headed towards the classroom doorway, looking around to see if he could make out any form of figure in the weak light of the corridor. "Hello?" The teacher repeated his previous call, waiting a few moments once more, before he soon called out, "Someone there?" Gradually Alaric took a few steps forwards, heading towards the longer end of the hallway before he once again heard the familiar sound of quick movement behind him which caused panic to run through him. Whoever it was, they almost definitely weren't a student. There had been no sound of footsteps to suggest that whoever it was that was moving quickly was human, so his panicked mind almost immediately jumped to the conclusion that there was a vampire in that building with him, and they were getting close to him.

As soon as the teacher made that conclusion, he proceeded to walk quickly back towards the faculty room, approaching his locker and tugging out the duffle bag that he'd taken to Veronica's earlier that day. Slamming the locker door shut, the teacher knelt down to unzip the bag and pull out the gun that launched stakes that he'd shown to the Bennett witch before, and began to prepare it. He knew that he had to have the element of surprise in order to fight whoever it was that was running through the halls. Grasping hold of one of the stakes, Alaric slid it into the main chamber of the gun, cocking it a short while later so that it would be ready with the gun letting out a series of small clicking noises as he did so. Almost instantly as there was no time to lose, Alaric carried the gun back towards his classroom, hiding up against the nearby wall to the right of his classroom and mentally preparing himself. However, it didn't take long for Alaric to soon move into the entryway of the classroom, his finger coming down on the trigger button and shooting out a stake in the direction of the tall figure that was stood before him.

However, his eyes widened slightly as the figure before him effortlessly caught hold of the stake that had been shot at him, with Alaric almost immediately recognising that it was Stefan that was stood before him. Dana stood a few inches away from him next to one of the large classroom windows, her icy cold eyes lingering on the male teacher in the doorway, but Alaric chose not to distract himself by focusing on her right now as his own sapphire coloured eyes staying on Stefan. The vampire continued to hold onto the stake that had been shot at him, an almost unreadable look on his expression, his eyes staring at him.

The pair stayed like that for a little while, before Alaric soon grasped hold of another stake that was attached to the base of his gun and began to load it into the weapon so that he could attack again. His feet stumbled backwards slightly as he cocked the gun once more, his heart loudly pounding within his chest as he looked back, soon finding himself face to face with Stefan. The vampire grabbed hold of his shirt as he blocked his way, causing a small groan to fall from Alaric, as Stefan soon grasped hold of the gun. "You shouldn't have done that." Stefan spoke in a slightly cold tone, as Alaric tried to force his way free by struggling slightly. Stefan easily tugged the weapon away from the teacher, and soon used the hand that was grasping his shirt to push him back into the many desks that filled up the classroom behind him. All Alaric could do was stumble down to the floor, clinging onto the desks that he hadn't completely knocked over in order to support himself. His blue eyes watched as Stefan soon threw the weapon over to Dana, the female vampire catching it with ease as Alaric struggled back onto his feet, getting ready to fight back using any means necessary.

He got the feeling that these two weren't going to go down without a fight.

 **AN: And I'm going to end it there! Thank you very much for reading, I hope that you enjoyed! Please let me know what you thought and I'll see you on Friday for the next update!**


	33. Chapter 32: Stories Of A Better Life

**AN: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, any of the characters or the plot, that belongs to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. I solely own Dana and Veronica. All rights go to their original owners.**

"Have a seat." Stefan instructed the clearly shaken history teacher, as Dana watched the events from a short distance away. Keeping the weapon that Alaric had tried to use against Stefan firmly in her grasp, the female approached the teacher's desk, casually brushing some of the pieces of paper off of it so that she could sit down on the edge. Her attention went back to Stefan and Alaric as she watched Stefan given the teacher a small hand gesture, signalling that he should indeed sit down, something that Alaric slowly did with a clear hesitancy to his actions. The teacher sat down on one of the small metal chairs that came attached to the desks, his eyes looking up at the vampires before him with a small amount of fear on his expression. Once he had sat down, Stefan looked over at Dana and the weapon that she was holding in her arms, as he inquired, "What is that, compressed air?" When Alaric stayed silent and chose not to give a response, Stefan added on, "Did you make it yourself?" Once again, no answer came from the teacher, which caused Stefan to demand, "Who are you?"

The male vampire took a few steps towards Alaric, causing him to visibly move back and flinch, Dana's head tilted slightly. "I'm not going to hurt you… Unless you try that again." Stefan added on, clearly attempting to reassure the nervous teacher as Dana slowly pushed herself off the desk, bringing the weapon with her. She felt as though physically giving the teacher back his method of defence would be a good idea, it might help him to feel slightly more secure and safe with the two vampires in his room. She held out the weapon to Alaric, causing the teacher to look up at her in clear confusion and doubt, presumably wondering if her giving him back the weapon was merely a trick.

"I'm not gonna hurt you either, Ric." She reassured him verbally, her cold blue eyes looking down at him. "You're on the Certain People List, trust me, you're safe. I'm a person of my word. Even if the ever charming Stefan decides to attack you, I'll fight him." Alaric's expression furrowed slightly at her answer, before his hand gingerly came up and took hold of the weapon from her.

"What?" Stefan asked, causing the female vampire to look back at her cousin, a small scoff soon falling from her lips as she shrugged her shoulders casually.

"It's a mental list I came up with after I nearly killed Sheila. Veronica cares about people in this town. Bonnie, Jeremy, the incredibly irritating Caroline, your beloved Elena. Because I don't want her to completely hate me for the rest of time, I made a rule wherein people that are on that list, the people she cares the most about, I'm not allowed to touch and I'm not allowed to kill them. It's the only reason that I haven't killed Elena by now. It's a bit annoying how many people she cares about, she ruins all my fun, but whatever. Sacrifices and all that." Dana explained quickly, before she gestured down at the teacher that was sat at the desk.

"Alaric here happens to be quite high on that list, so I'm just letting him know that if you go back on your word like you have a tendency to do, I'll protect him. For her sake." Dana mused, with her almost swearing that the teacher gave her a small look of gratitude at her comment. "Especially given that it's you, and I will have no issue with killing you." Dana added on coldly, shooting a small look back at Alaric, before she returned to the desk, crossing her arms over her chest. Stefan shot a small look in her direction, a small sigh soon falling from his lips before he proceeded to bring forward one of the nearby small desks and sat down on the table, his attention going to the teacher.

"Well, now that you know that you're protected and that neither of us want to hurt you," Stefan began, as he leaned forwards slightly, a serious look held on his expression. "Who are you?" He questioned the teacher who had gone back to clearly being tense, although he was nowhere near as obviously afraid as he had been prior to Dana's promise to keep him safe.

"I'm a teacher." Alaric almost immediately answered, causing Dana to let out a small scoff.

"Yeah, right. I totally get that vibe from you. Teachers carry around stake launcher gun things all the time." Dana commented dryly, causing Alaric to lightly bite down on his lower lip, a small amused smirk pulling at Stefan's lips as a result of Dana's sarcastic comment. The vampire sat himself upright on the desk, taking a brief while before he inquired,

"Are we gonna have to do this the hard way? I would set Dana on you, she's normally the one who's good with forcing answers out of people, but just this once, she's playing pacifist." Stefan shot a small glance over at the girl on the desk as he spoke, causing her to give a small and modest shrug of her shoulders in response.

The vampire went to response sarcastically to Stefan's comment about her pacifist nature, but she was soon cut off by Alaric giving another answer to the question. "I'm also a historian. And while researching Virginia, I… made a few discoveries about your town." Alaric trailed off midway through his sentence, with Dana presuming that he intentionally did that to imply that he'd found out about the vampires through his research. Admittedly, that was slightly more believable than the previous answer that he'd given, but still not the most convincing.

"So you show up like Van Helsing." Stefan responded in a light-hearted tone, clearly not buying the response from the teacher either. Alaric softly sighed, slumping back into the seat that he was sat in, with his expression suggesting that he was starting to get a little bit frustrated by Stefan and Dana not believing his answers. "Come on... Tell us the truth." Stefan prompted the teacher once more, causing a small noise that was a weird combination of a chuckle and a scoff to fall from Alaric's lips in response.

"My wife was a… parapsychologist. She spent her life researching paranormal activity in this area. It was her work that led me here." Alaric hesitantly admitted, with Dana lightly biting down on her lower lip at the mention of him having a wife, wondering if Veronica knew that. Although she was stubborn and wouldn't actually admit it, it was clear that she did have a strong crush on the history teacher and Dana wasn't too sure how she'd take the news that he had a wife. Knowing Veronica, she wouldn't admit the upset that it would cause her, she'd probably bottle it up and refuse to burden Dana or anyone else with it.

"Where's your wife?" Stefan's voice almost immediately brought Dana out of her thoughts, with it not taking long for the teacher to softly respond.

"Dead." Alaric's voice trembled, with his tone clearly being full of all the hurt that losing his wife had caused him. Dana felt both a sensation of relief run through her, and a feeling of sympathy that she soon pushed down. Sympathy wouldn't get her anywhere, nor would it help the man who had lost his wife. "A vampire killed her." Alaric added on, causing Dana to look over at Stefan.

"It wasn't me, before you ask." The vampire spoke dryly. "I knew you were thinking it, just figured I'd settle it before you start interrogating me." Stefan raised an eyebrow at her comment, as he soon commented the very familiar caution of,

"Not now, Dana." Dana scoffed, as Stefan soon turned his attention back to Alaric. "Where's the Gilbert journal?" He questioned, quickly getting back to the topic at hand, as a look of noticeable bewilderment soon formed on Alaric's face as a result of Stefan's question.

"What do you want with it?" He questioned in response, his voice still slightly dry presumably from the mention of his wife but the notes of curiosity were still noticeable in his tone.

"Where is it?" Stefan prompted, not giving the teacher an answer to his question in the slightest.

"It's on my desk." Alaric answered as though the answer were obvious, his eyes briefly glancing over in Dana's direction and the large desk that she was sat on.

"No, it's not." Stefan responded, his serious expression never once fading, causing the teacher to look over at the opposite end of the desk to Dana, his eyes lingering for slightly longer this time as he apparently didn't see the journal that he was expecting to see.

"It was on my desk." Alaric insisted as his eyes went back to Stefan, causing the younger Salvatore brother to look to Dana a short while later. A noise of slight annoyance fell from the female vampire's lips as she moved backwards slightly, her own icy blue eyes flicking back and forth between Stefan and Alaric for a short while longer.

"If you're about to suggest that I'm sitting on it, or that I'm hiding it, I will actually break your neck. I'm not that childish, sorry to disappoint." Dana spoke sarcastically, causing Stefan to lightly sigh. The gesture clearly held annoyance and frustration but for once, Stefan did not make any form of comment telling the female to shut up or to save her sarcastic comments for later, instead he merely turned his attention back to Alaric.

"How long have you been aware of me?" The vampire questioned, quickly changing the topic, apparently too annoyed with his cousin to even give her some form of response. The teacher looked down at the floor before him for a few moments, choosing to temporarily stay silent. Alaric swallowed down the lump in his throat, before he soon responded.

"I learned just recently." Alaric commented softly, his blue eyes going to Dana for a few moments. "Veronica confirmed what you were last night. You're not very subtle, your record's full of notes for violent behaviour and yet you haven't been kicked out yet. If you're not compelling the principal to let you stay, then how else are you still here?" The teacher mused, causing Dana to give a small shrug of her shoulders in a casual manner. He was right in his assumption. They weren't just allowing her to stay in school for her charms. "What about your brother?" Alaric asked as his blue eyes looked back at Stefan, causing the vampire's head to slightly tilt in mild intrigue, his serious expression never once faltering.

"You've met Damon." Stefan commented, causing a slight smirk to pull at Alaric's lips, although it didn't seem to very genuine to Dana.

"Who do you think killed my wife?" Alaric's response to Stefan's question hit Dana, causing the female's eyes to look down at the floor, the sensation of previous sympathy hitting her once more. Seeing Damon often can't be very good for him. Truthfully, it was no wonder that the man was quite as nervous and jumpy as he was. Seeing his wife's killer practically every day mustn't be good for his psyche. For once Dana made no sarcastic comment, the human part of her that she had a tendency to refuse to surface taking over as she crossed her arms over her chest once more, her blue eyes soon looking over at Alaric.

"Are you certain that it was Damon?" Stefan questioned a short while later, clearly wanting to make sure that it was indeed his brother although killing a random woman was very much Damon's style, certainly when he had his humanity completely turned off.

"I witnessed it." Alaric confirmed, causing Dana to allow her hands to run across her face for a few moments, a small groan falling from her lips.

"If you're here for revenge… this is going to end very badly for you." Stefan responded, with Dana soon giving a small nod in confirmation.

"For once, I'm in complete agreement with Stefan the idiot. You try and go after Damon, he will actually kill you and not think twice about it. No offence, but I don't really want to live with that on my conscience. Perpetual guilt and I don't really mix." Dana argued, allowing her scruffy shoes to lightly bang against the leg of the wooden desk that she was sitting on. "So, stay alive. It's a lot more fun than it seems. I'll hit Damon for you if you want. I'm a lot stronger than I look." Stefan shot a small look over in Dana's direction, with it clearly being discouraging, causing Dana to lightly place her hands up in mock surrender. "Hey, at least I'm offering a practical solution that won't result in another dead history teacher at Damon's hands." She spoke dryly, turning her attention back to Alaric, as the teacher lightly bit down on his lower lip before speaking once more.

"I just want to find out what happened to my wife." Alaric mumbled, causing Dana's eyebrows to furrow slightly, feeling slightly confused by his story. From the look on Stefan's expression, it seemed as though he shared her confusion as he soon questioned,

"I thought you just said that Damon..." However, before the younger Salvatore sibling got a chance to finish his question, Alaric soon cut him off.

"Yeah." Alaric spoke softly, with him once again having to stop to speak so that he could swallow down the lump in his throat, a nervous exhale soon falling from his lips. "I saw him… draining the life out of her." The teacher once again stopped, as his eyes looked back down at the floor before him. He seemed to be unable to look at either of the people in the room whenever the emotion overwhelmed him, almost as if he were trying to hold back the upset that he was feeling. That was something that Dana herself could relate to. "He must have heard me coming. He just...disappeared… So did her body…They never found her." Alaric spoke, his eyes looking back up at Stefan and Dana as he began to reach the end of his explanation, his voice slightly cracking as he finishing speaking. Stefan sighed in response to his comments, with Alaric's eyes soon going back down to look at the floor, whilst Dana merely sat there in silence. She knew that it would be incredibly inappropriate and insensitive, but she was truly tempted to make a sarcastic comment to try and lighten the mood somewhat. She hated it when the mood of the room was like this.

"Damon can never know why you're here. Like Dana said, he'll kill you without blinking." Stefan spoke after a short while, a noticeable pause between his sentences, with Dana softly nodding in agreement. Alaric's eyes glanced up at the two vampires before him, with a combination of a tired and slightly amused look held on his expression, clearly not wanting to follow the vampire's advice.

"I can take care of myself." Alaric responded softly, earning a small scoff from Stefan and a laugh of slight amusement from Dana at the mere thought that he believed he could take down Damon on his own. If he couldn't deal with Stefan when he was in his pacifist mode, then he had absolutely no chance going up against Damon.

"No, you can't. We can help you. If you let us." Stefan insisted, with Alaric softly sighing in response.

"If it helps, you're not just protecting yourself." Dana commented in an oddly soft tone for the normally sarcastic and witty vampire, causing Alaric's attention to go to her. "I'm presuming that the reason you and Veronica have been so close lately is because she's been helping you with all this. If you and her go up against Damon, you'll not only get yourself killed, but her too. She won't let you go up against this alone, she's irritatingly stubborn like that. She'll stick by you until something, probably Damon, kills her. So, if you care for her in the slightest, Ric," Dana spoke, pushing herself off the desk so that she was now noticeably taller than the teacher who was still sat down. "Accept our help." Alaric's expression softened at the mention of the young Bennett witch, a small sigh soon falling from his lips. It was clear that Dana had been right in her assumption that using Veronica as a point of argument would work. The teacher sat in silence for a few moments, contemplating his options, before he softly and hesitantly nodded in response.

"Fine."

* * *

Dana felt a small sigh fall from her lips as she slowly walked up the front porch of the Gilbert house with Stefan being a short distance behind her, the female vampire only lingering back once Stefan had softly pressed down on the doorbell. He glanced back at Dana for a brief while, clearly going to say something to her before the door was quickly pulled open causing him to turn back, as the open doorway revealed Damon and Elena. The pair in the doorway looked at the pair that were stood out on the porch, with Damon holding a clearly impatient look on his expression.

"Well?" Damon questioned, his eyes looking between Dana and Stefan, clearly wanting a rundown of what had happened when they'd gone to speak to the teacher. Dana's bright blue eyes almost immediately went to Stefan, silently telling him that he could explain to Damon that they hadn't been able to find the journal, as that was the story that they had agreed to go with. Stefan gave a small exhale of breath, before he informed Damon that had gone to visit Mr Saltzman, only to be told by him that the journal was missing. Once Stefan had finished telling the story, he and Elena stepped out onto the wooden porch, apparently seeking some form of privacy for the conversation that they were about to have. Elena closed the front door behind them, as the group headed away from the door, with Damon almost immediately demanding to know, "Who took it?"

"I don't know." Stefan answered softly to his comment, with Damon turning back around to face the group of three once they were directly in front of the large living room window and the porch swing, a slight spark in his eyes. Apparently, the fact that they'd 'lost' the key to finding Katherine didn't seem to sit too well with him.

"You know what, it's that teacher. There's something really off about him." Damon spoke with conviction, causing Dana to lightly roll her eyes. Of course, that was the conclusion that he would come to.

"No, he doesn't know anything. Somebody got to it right before we did." Stefan reassured him, with Dana softly nodding in confirmation.

"Besides, when he realised it was gone, he seemed really confused. Even more confused than we were, I don't think he's that good of an actor, Damon. Pretty sure that for once, he's got nothing to do with this." The female spoke softly resulting in Stefan soon looking back at her and softly nodding, with Dana almost swearing that she could have seen a look of gratitude within the vampire's eyes before his attention went back to Damon upon hearing the elder vampire speak,

"Who else knew it was there?" Upon hearing Damon's words, Stefan's eyes involuntarily went to the large window that they were stood besides, with it taking Dana a short while to realise who he was looking at. It was Jeremy, who was sat on the couch in the living room, seemingly having the time of his life playing a video game. Just as Dana was about to make a point and argue that there was no way that Jeremy had anything to do with the book going missing, Damon's eyes followed Stefan into the living room, his eyes slightly widening as he too noticed Jeremy. Almost instantly, Damon took a few steps forward, heading in the direction of the front door, much to the irritation of Elena.

"No." She insisted as Damon walked through the group of three and continued walking towards the front door. "Damon, leave him out of it!" Damon looked back at the female for a brief while as she spoke, but he still continued to walk, causing Stefan to almost immediately begin walking after him.

"Why, what's the big deal?" Damon questioned, clearly not caring about Elena's argument in the slightest, as Elena began to walk after him.

"Damon!" She snapped at him causing Dana to lightly roll her eyes and following after the group as she decided that she'd better stick around to make sure that Damon didn't try to hurt Jeremy to get what he wanted, catching up to Elena with relative ease.

"Told you they never listen." She spoke dryly, referring to the conversation that the group of four had been having earlier that morning, with Elena giving her a small and slightly discouraging look as they all followed Damon into the living room. Dana stood closest to Damon as the elder vampire sat down casually on the arm of the couch once they'd entered the living room, being directly next to Jeremy as he did so, whilst Stefan and Elena hung back in a slightly more awkward and nervous fashion.

"So...I heard you found a really cool journal from back in the day." Damon began as his blue eyes looked down at the young boy sat on the couch, playing his video game that appeared to be about racing cars. Truly, Dana found herself wondering if this was one of his hobbies, why was Veronica friends with him? But, she chose to save that thought for another day, pushing it to the back of her mind as Damon leaned forward slightly and asked, "Who else did you show it to?" Dana couldn't help but slightly roll her eyes at Damon's clear lack of subtlety, although the vampire didn't make another comment as a look of complete bewilderment soon overtook Jeremy's face, but he didn't once look away from his game. A noise of confusion came from him, which apparently only annoyed Damon further, causing him to ask, "Don't ask questions, just spill." Jeremy finally looked away from his game as Damon asked his next question, a noticeably amused laugh falling from the Gilbert boy's lips as a result of Damon's question.

"You're kidding me, right?" Jeremy asked, clearly very confused by Damon's abrupt and rather persistent questioning.

"Jer, did you tell anyone other than Mr. Saltzman about Johnathan Gilbert's journal?" Elena interjected, clearly trying to take a softer line of questioning than Damon had used previously to try and get some answers.

"Why is everybody so obsessed with that thing?" Jeremy asked with a slight hesitancy in his tone, causing Dana to let out a slight sigh of exasperation.

"Because we're all massive history nerds. We just… can't get enough of reading about the late 1800's, it's the best period of history. Now, who did you tell?" Dana spoke in a combination of a sarcastic and demanding tone, causing Jeremy to soon reply,

"Just that girl Anna." A look of confusion soon overtook Dana's expression, with it taking her a few moments to remember where she had heard that name before.

"Oh, you mean the one who was a bitch to Ronnie at the dance?" Dana questioned, causing Jeremy's expression to once again shift into one of complete confusion.

"Leave your personal vendettas at home, Dana. We can talk about Bennett drama later. Is she the hot weird one you were talking about earlier?" Damon cut off Jeremy before he had a chance to ask what Dana meant by that, causing him to softly nod.

"Yeah, what do you mean by that, Dana?" Jeremy asked, with Dana not getting a chance to answer his question as she was once again cut off by Stefan asking,

"Wait, who's Anna?" His green eyes went between Dana and Jeremy, seeing as they seemed to be the ones in the room who knew the most about this young woman who seemed to be the only other person who knew about the journals existence, causing Dana to softly shrug. She herself hadn't actually met Anna. All she knew about her was what Veronica had told her, that she seemed to really like Jeremy and that she'd told Veronica that Jeremy didn't actually like her as a friend anymore, something that didn't seem to be entirely true from the worried look that Jeremy now wore on his expression as a result of Dana's comment.

"That's what I want to find out." Damon mused, just as the sound of a ringing phone filled the room, causing Elena to head off and go to answer it, with Dana not really caring that she'd headed off. It just meant that they would be more likely to get answers now that she wasn't there to interject. "How do you know her?" Damon inquired curiously, causing Jeremy to softly shrug in response, taking a brief while to answer.

"I just know her. She wants me to meet her at the Grill tonight." Jeremy informed them a short while later, with Dana not being entirely sure if she liked the glint that soon appeared in Damon's eyes upon hearing that response.

"Perfect!" Damon exclaimed, giving a small glance up at Stefan and Dana as he did so, before his attention returned to Jeremy. The much stronger vampire soon took hold of the younger boy's arm and forced him upwards. "I'll drive, and Dana can tell you what she meant in the car. Come on." Damon instructed, causing Dana to roll her eyes slightly, shooting a small glance up at Stefan, before she soon followed Damon and Jeremy out of the front door. She wasn't too sure why Damon wanted her to come with him when they went to meet the infamous Anna, but she wasn't going to complain.

At least she was finally away from Elena and Stefan.

 **AN: And I'm going to end it there! Thank you for reading! I hope that you enjoyed! Please let me know what you thought and I'll see you on Monday for the next update!**


	34. Chapter 33: Closer And Closer

**AN: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, any of the characters or the plot, that belongs to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. I solely own Dana and Veronica. All rights go to their original owners.**

Dana casually rested against the bar as her dark coloured eyes looked over at Jeremy for a few moments, her eyes carefully observing the dark haired woman that the young boy began to talk to. She didn't recognise her in the slightest, however as she glanced over at Damon and saw that his eyes were slightly widened, she got the feeling that he knew exactly who she was. "Where do you know her from?" Dana asked as her eyes focused solely on Damon, making sure to keep her voice as low as physically possible so that no one would risk overhearing her.

"1864." Damon spoke slowly in response, pulling his eyes away from Anna and Jeremy as they began to play their game of pool, his eyes lingering on the female vampire that was sat two seats away from him at the bar. "She was the daughter of one of Katherine's friends, Pearl." Dana's eyes narrowed slightly, wondering why a vampire from 1864 was here and after the Gilbert journal, before the sensation of her phone vibrating in her pocket caused her to come out of her thoughts. The female vampire produced her phone from the pocket of her leather jacket, soon noticing that it was Veronica calling her, with her almost immediately accepting the call. Perhaps talking to Veronica would give her a way to escape the awkwardness that was her current conversation with Damon. The elder vampire was still convinced that they were all working together to find the journal so that they could all get the grimoire, or at the very least that was the vibe that he was giving off. Seeing as Dana knew that Stefan had a copy of the journal that he had probably already shown to Elena by now, given to them by Alaric shortly after he'd accepted their help in dealing with Damon, things were just a little bit awkward for her. As much as she didn't want to admit it, Damon was very good at reading her, due to the many years that they'd spent travelling together shortly after she'd originally been turned back in 1922, and if she spent too long talking to him or if he brought up the topic of the journal or Alaric then she was pretty screwed.

"Hey, Ronnie. What's up? You miss my amazing company already?" Dana inquired as she brought the phone up to her ear, giving a small gesture to Damon to show that she was heading outside. The female then got up on her feet and made her way outside, believing that she could talk more easily and freely out here, without the noise of all the people from the Grill surrounding and overwhelming her overactive senses. A small laugh came from the Bennett witch upon hearing Dana's comment, before she soon responded,

"Something like that. I'm doing… research, and I was wondering if you could help me. Please? It won't take long, I promise." Veronica's polite tone inquired, causing a look of intrigue to soon settle on Dana's expression, wondering what the young witch was doing research on.

"Yeah, sure. I'll be sure to use that incredible amount of knowledge that I have to help you. What do you want to know?" Dana questioned, allowing herself to casually rest against the nearby wall, with her being able to easily pick up on the slightly nervous breath that the Bennett girl let out upon hearing Dana's response. That gesture confused the vampire slightly. What was it that was causing the Bennett girl to be quite that nervous?

"C-Could you tell me about Damon? When was he turned?" Veronica gently asked, causing Dana's eyes to narrow in confusion wanting to know why the young woman wanted to suddenly know about her cousin, before she soon remembered that she was working with Alaric. The research was probably for him, and so, Dana chose not to make a comment.

"Damon was turned in 1864 by a woman called Katherine Pierce, just like Stefan was. He believed that he was madly in love with her, and that she felt the same and that they were going to live forever and run off happily into the sunset, I guess. Kinda delusional, I know, but that was what he thought." Dana explained the early origins of the story between Damon and Stefan as best as she could manage. Admittedly, it wasn't something that Damon talked to her a lot about. He had severe trust issues, and truthfully, she didn't really blame him for having them. Stefan's actions on that night back in 1864 had led to Katherine being locked up in that church, or at the very least, that was Damon's perspective of events. Given her own dislike of Stefan and the trust that she'd placed in Damon a long time ago by telling him what had truly happened between her and Russell, something that she'd never told to anyone else, Dana found herself being more likely to believe Damon's recounting of events than whatever Stefan might claim happened. "She was probably compelling him, to be fair, but no one dares to say that to him. He doesn't really like the suggestion that his precious Katherine may not actually be as perfect as he believes her to be." Dana paused her story, lightly biting down on her lower lip. "And then, Katherine was shut in the tomb, after Stefan said something to their dad and he figured out that she was a vampire, I don't know, and Damon's hated him ever since. I think that's basically it." There was silence for a few moments from the other end of the phone, with Dana's advanced hearing soon helping her to pick up the sound of what sounded like scribbling, suggesting that Veronica was frantically writing down everything that Dana had just told her.

"Did… Has Damon ever mentioned a woman named Isobel? I… Is she a relative of yours? A long lost friend?" Veronica's voice softly inquired after a brief while, causing Dana's eyes to narrow slightly once again, allowing her brain to truly think about the answer that she was about to give.

"Don't think so. I mean, it's not like Isobel's one of the most common names around or anything." Dana spoke sarcastically, soon running a hand through her messy brown hair as a small sigh fell from her lips, deciding that she should probably give Veronica a serious answer to her question to prove that she was indeed some form of asset to the Bennett witch in her quest for answers for the history teacher. "But, seriously, I don't remember him ever mentioning an Isobel. I could ask him if you like, but he does seem to be in one of his incredibly charming 'ask me something and I'll bite your head off' moods. Maybe try a bit later." Dana commented, with a small sigh soon falling from Veronica's lips in response. Dana stood there for a few moments, her hands placed casually in her pockets, not entirely sure what to say, before she eventually added on, "So, are you and Ric some form of cool duo now? Team Bennett-Saltzman against the big bad Damon Salvatore?" In those moments, Dana could just tell that the witch was blushing on the far end of the phone. She knew her far too well. By the seems of things, just the mere mention of the teacher's name could get Veronica in a flustered state, and it was rather amusing to Dana that she was still insisting that she didn't have feelings for him.

"N-No." Veronica's shaky voice responded in a timid manner, only resulting in the smirk on the female vampire's lips to grow slightly. "We… We're not even really a team, or anything, I just… I help him, when he needs it. He probably thinks I'm incredibly annoying or… Weird, or something, I don't know. He… He just probably hates me. I wouldn't blame him." Veronica shyly commented, causing Dana to let out a small laugh in response to the witch's denial. She couldn't help but wonder how long the witch was going to keep this up, pretending that she didn't like him.

"Sure, if that's what you want to think. It's not my job to shatter your delusions. Let me know when you're ready to come out of your fantasy world. We can do that stereotypical teenage girl thing, and talk about boys, and I can give you my incredible dating advice and play matchmaker. That's what Caroline would do, right? We all know that she's the clear expert around here with the vast amount of relationships she's been in." Dana inquired in what was clearly meant to be a sarcastic tone, as she didn't really care all that much about talking about boys. If it was something that Caroline did, she was going to avoid it like the plague. The vampire was brought out of her thoughts about the blonde girl as she heard Veronica let out an awkward and clearly nervous laugh, with Dana being able to tell that she'd merely made that noise because she didn't know how to respond to Dana's comment.

"I… I wish you wouldn't talk about her like that. She's my friend, Dana. She's one of my best friends. I get that you don't like her, but… Please, don't make her out to be some promiscuous girl who does nothing but throw herself at guys, because she's more than that. She's intelligent, caring and ridiculously great at being organised and running things. I know that being rude is your thing, Dana, but… Just please don't simply label her as promiscuous and leave it at that." Veronica's polite tones softly argued, with Dana actually being slightly impressed that the Bennett girl stuck up for her perspective for once.

"It doesn't stop her from being annoying." Dana commented in response. Admittedly she hadn't even spent all that much time with Caroline since she'd arrived in town, trying to go out of her way to avoid the blonde female who just seemed to be incredibly perky all of the time but during the time that she had spent with her, mostly due to Veronica, she'd made several conclusions about her. She was obnoxious, just as Elena was in her opinion, which was probably something else that Veronica would strongly disagree with her on although thankfully Caroline didn't seem to get herself in danger as much as Elena did. "Anyway, I see your game, Miss Bennett. Trying to change the topic so I'll forget about your seduction of our history teacher." Dana teased, bringing the conversation away from Caroline, as she got the feeling that Veronica truly didn't like her insulting the blonde. She allowed a hand to run through her hair, before her phone softly beeped, informing her that there was another caller on the line who wanted to speak to her. A groan of slight annoyance came from Dana, before she soon informed Veronica, "Anyway, there's someone else who's calling me. Apparently, I'm super popular today. I'll pop round later when I'm finished with being on Book Hunting duty, and I'll tell you some more about Damon so you can impress Ric. You're very welcome. Laters, Ronnie." Dana bid the Bennett witch farewell, before ending the call and soon accepting the next one. "What?"

"We think we've found the Grimoire." Elena's voice informed her, causing Dana's eyebrow to raise slightly in intrigue. "Come and meet me and Stefan at his father's grave, and we'll talk about what to do with it." She instructed.

"Well, you know me, I can't turn down a meeting in a graveyard." Dana commented dryly, glancing around for a few moments, before she pushed herself upright and began to walk through the darkened streets of Mystic Falls, the occasional bright burst of streetlights being the only thing that infrequently broke up the seemingly never ending darkness that enveloped the female vampire as she walked towards the woods. "I'll be there in fifteen minutes." She spoke, not wanting to waste any more time talking to Elena than was necessary, as she soon ended the call and slipped her phone back into her pocket.

She just had to hope that Damon didn't notice that she'd gone.

* * *

Dana walked at a relatively slow pace in the direction of the woods and the cemetery, not really wanting to spend more time with Elena and Stefan. She felt as though she'd spent more than enough time with them today, and she was grateful that now that they'd found the Grimoire, this would hopefully be the last day that she would be forced to spend with them. Once the book was destroyed, there would be no need to keep up this incredibly annoying façade of a team that they seemed to be trying to create for Damon. The female vampire's blue eyes scoured the woods as she walked through them, her advanced senses and experience of navigating through the woods enabling her to find her way towards the grave of her distant relative. The very distant and flickering torch light, that Stefan and Elena had apparently used to navigate the woods, was also helping her to navigate and she soon found herself a few inches away from Stefan. The young Salvatore brother was stood protectively in front of Elena as he seemed to always be, with the female being a short distance behind him. "You had me fooled." Upon hearing the bitter tones of Damon's voice, Dana soon realised what it was that Stefan was protecting Elena from.

Somehow, Damon had found out about the plan.

The female vampire turned her attention away from Stefan, her blue eyes lingering on the other male vampire that stood a few inches away from her, closer to her than Stefan was, with him having apparently only just noticed that she was there. His resentful expression didn't even falter for a second as his eyes met hers, his body still incredibly tensed with anger. "Oh, and of course, you're in on this too, aren't you, Dana?" He questioned, a cold scoff soon falling from his lips, whilst Dana's blank expression never once changed. She knew that having any form of physical emotional reaction to his comments would only give him something to work with, some form of weakness for him to exploit. "I never thought that you would be on team Stefan. Apparently, your claims that you've changed really were true." At Damon's words, Dana finally gave a response, a mocking laugh fell from her lips as she took a step towards the vampire, her blue eyes looking defiantly into his.

"I'm not on anyone's side, Damon. Picking a side implies that I care, when I don't. The only team that I'm on is mine. Team Dana. Because I'm sick of being told what to do. I'm sick of you thinking that you can walk over me, and Stefan thinking that I'm going to magically forgive him if he keeps acting like he likes me." Dana stated, her stone-cold expression being her way of proving to the vampire that she meant what she was saying. However, as she stood there with a heartlessness in her tone, she found herself realising that she had possibly never been more similar to Damon. "So, yes, Damon, I knew about their grand scheme to lie to you. I knew that they were going to destroy the book and stop you from getting Katherine back. And I didn't tell you, because I don't care. Call me selfish all you want, Damon. Call me a bitch, snap my neck, whatever, it doesn't matter to me. Hell, I'm only here because I've got nothing better to do." Damon's icy blue eyes filled with venom at the female's words, his eyes continuing to glare down at Dana, his hands clenched for a few moments before he raised his hands and violently shoved the woman back. Dana was forcefully flung back, a groan falling from her as her body abruptly collided with a nearby tree, feeling a strong wooden branch pierce through her lower back. It ripped through the leather material of her jacket and the thin black material of her shirt with ease, so of course it had no issue going through her skin with Dana fiercely fighting back the scream of pain that she wanted to let out.

Weakness wasn't a good thing to be showing right now.

The female vampire glanced over at Stefan and Elena, as she focused on trying to get herself off of the tree, almost swearing that she could see a look of worry in Elena's large doe eyes, something that she soon dismissed. Elena and her hated each other, why would she be showing sympathy for her? Wincing slightly at the pain that ran through her body, the vampire reached behind her and soon snapped the branch that was connecting her to the tree. She supposed it could have been far worse. Damon could have ripped her heart out for daring to try and keep him away from his precious Katherine.

"So, Stefan, what are you going to do now? Because if you try and destroy that book, I'll rip Elena's heart out." Damon's cold voice filled the air as Dana shakily grasped hold of the wooden branch, tugging it out abruptly. She mumbled a series of curse words under her breath, trying incredibly hard to keep up her charade that she didn't care and that she was a stone-cold vampire bitch, the fact that her spare hand had clenched tightly into a fist and that she looked partially ragged being the only physical signs that she was in pain. Dana allowed the scarlet tipped branch to drop down to the floor, standing still for a few moments as she allowed her wound to heal.

"You won't kill her." Stefan responded, almost as if he was calling Damon's bluff, something that Dana knew would be a mistake. The apparent betrayal from the only two family members that he had left had clearly dramatically upset Damon and, as Dana herself had found out the hard way, challenging him would only result in him hurting someone. Dana's attention went to Damon, as the elder vampire gave a small nod at Stefan's comment. Her eyebrows furrowed slightly, before suddenly Damon sped forward, stopping behind Elena as he quickly pulled the female into a chokehold so that she wouldn't be able to get away from him. Stefan's eyes widened, frantic panic held within his green eyes as he looked at his brother virtually suffocating his girlfriend whilst Dana merely stood there, her weakness from her injury and her dislike of Elena causing her to just watch with a blank expression.

"I can do one better." Damon stated as Elena began to weakly struggle to get out of his grasp, as the raven-haired vampire soon brought his wrist up to his mouth, his jacket sleeve pushing up slightly as he did so. Damon's fangs soon appeared, as he bit down on his wrist, rapidly forcing it into Elena's mouth so that the young woman had no choice but to gulp down his blood. Elena once again weakly struggled against his grip, to no avail as Damon's vampire strength was a million times stronger than her feeble human muscles. "Give me the book, Stefan, or I'm snapping her neck. And you and I will have a vampire girlfriend." Damon threatened, with his words seemingly getting to Stefan as the younger vampire stood upright, almost as if he were attempting to regain control of the situation.

"Do it." Dana's weak voice interrupted before Stefan had a chance to do anything, earning her a slightly bemused look from Damon, a partially angry look from Stefan and an absolutely terrified look from the now very wide eyed Elena. None of the emotional responses from those around her bothered her in the slightest however, as Dana soon added on, "Oh, no, she would actually stand a chance of defending herself if she was turned. I forgot, Stefan, your whole relationship is built around the whole damsel in distress concept, isn't it? Are you scared that she might find someone who's not toxic for her if she doesn't need you to save her every five minutes?" Dana's eyes went to Stefan as she spoke, the slight smirk once again returning to her lips as her eyes met Stefan's, noticing that the male didn't seem to agree with her statement. In fact, the slightest flickers of anger were beginning to burn within his eyes as a result of her suggestion that they should just turn Elena.

"Ignore her, please, Damon, just let her go and I'll give you the Grimoire." Stefan responded after a short while of angrily looking at Dana, causing Damon to allow his wrist to drop away from Elena's mouth. His icy blue eyes lingered on Stefan for a few moments, a slight look of disbelief and doubt clearly shown on his expression.

"Give me the book, or I'll do as Dana suggested. We can test out her little hypothesis, see if she's right." Damon responded in a manner that was clearly supposed to prompt Stefan into handing over the Grimoire whilst Dana merely stood there, not caring enough about the issues at stake to actually get involved through any physical means.

"I'm not going to give this to you until she is standing next to me." Stefan responded, holding up the large brown book that he was holding in his right hand, with Dana presuming that was the infamous Grimoire that they'd spent so long searching for.

"Problem is, I no longer trust that you'll give it back!" Damon answered almost instantly, continuing to hold Elena tightly in his grasp, with the young Gilbert girl barely even trying to get out of Damon's grasp anymore. Apparently, she had finally realised that there was no point in fighting the much stronger vampire.

A small sigh fell from Dana's lips upon hearing Damon's words, gingerly crossing her arms over her chest as her body was still slightly sensitive and healing her previous injury, something that she would be able to easily resolve when she got home and drank some blood. That would easily heal any and all remaining issues she might have from Damon flinging her against a tree. "Geez, and they say I have trust issues." Dana mumbled in a slightly sarcastic tone in response to Damon's comment, although other than a small discouraging glance from Stefan there was no verbal response from anyone to her comment, as Stefan soon responded,

"You just did the one thing that ensures that I will."

"Oh, how cute." Dana commented dryly under her breath, her focus lingering on Damon as the vampire that was still tightly holding onto Elena stayed still for a few moments before he softly nodded, apparently agreeing to Stefan's deal. That was something that had rather surprised Dana, as given his newfound anger for Stefan after the events of this night, she had truly believed that he would go out of his way to make sure that this ended in the worst possible way for Stefan. If he was aiming to do that, this confrontation between the group of three would have almost definitely have ended with Elena getting her neck snapped and finally having the possibility to defend herself if something were to attack her or try to take her hostage as things in this town always seemed to be doing. However, apparently Damon was so desperate to get Katherine back that he was willing to make a deal with Stefan, the man who had made him so angry and, in his eyes, lose Katherine in the first place.

"Okay." Stefan commented softly, bringing Dana out of her thoughts. Slowly Stefan bent down, reaching down his hand that was tightly clutching the book, his movements almost seeming as though they were in slow motion, a clear hesitation held in every move that he made. With his wide green eyes never once moving from Damon, almost as though he were afraid that Damon was going to go against his word and kill Elena anyway, Stefan placed the thick book down on the floor with it making a soft thud as it landed amongst the leaves and dirt. As Stefan made himself stand more upright once the book was on the floor in front of Damon, Dana continued to stand completely still, ignoring the small part of her that wanted to speed forward and grab hold of the Grimoire. Although she herself didn't care about whether Elena lived as a human or a vampire, she was pretty sure that Veronica would. Elena was pretty high up on the list of people that Veronica cared about. Dana's blue eyes went to Damon as the older vampire slightly buried his face in Elena's hair for a few moments, a gesture that truly bemused the female vampire, before he slowly released his grasp on her. Shakily and with clear terror in her eyes, Elena looked back at Damon for a few moments, presumably doubting whether Damon was actually letting her go before she quickly dashed over to Stefan. The vampire wrapped his arms around her protectively, keeping her safe and comforted in his arms as he began to quickly led her away, leaving Dana alone with Damon.

The female watched as Damon almost instantly dashed forwards and picked up the Grimoire from the floor. As his fingers began to idly brush the dried and dead leaves off the incredibly old book, Dana took this moment to finally regain control of her body, taking a few steps towards the vampire as he looked down at the ground. "Damon, I…" Dana began to speak, but before she had a chance to get more than two words in, Damon abruptly sped forwards and flung her violently against a different tree, a much stronger branch ripping through her skin this time. The branch had gone through her chest, with it being a ridiculously small distance away from piercing through her heart. A more noticeable noise of pain fell from her lips as she looked at Damon, noticing the cold, heartless look in his eyes.

"The next time that you decide to get me to trust you, and then betray me, I won't miss. That branch will go right through your manipulative, indecisive heart, Dana." Damon spoke with a slight venom in his tone, with Dana being able to tell that he meant his words.

"Wow, thanks. Charming, Damon." She commented in her usual sarcastic manner, being able to only watch as the elder vampire soon zoomed off into the onyx night, leaving the female vampire completely alone in the woods, attempting to remove the sharp wooden object from her chest.

Perhaps not choosing a side had been a bit of a bad idea.

* * *

Veronica felt a small giggle fall from her lips as she placed down her pen for a few moments so that she could adjust her grip on the phone that she was holding in her left hand, not wanting to drop the phone and end the conversation. "Yes, Care, I promise that I'll give you all the hot gossip from Bonnie when she gets back. Before you ask, I'm not calling her up to ask how it's going." Veronica commented, as she knew Caroline all too well and when the blonde girl wanted to know something, she would stop at nothing.

"Aw, why not?" Caroline inquired in her usual playful and bubbly tone, causing another small and slightly awkward laugh to fall from Veronica's lips as the young Bennett witch began to slowly read the open diary that she had been reading before Caroline had called her and asked if she knew how Bonnie's date with Ben, one of the bartenders at the Grill, was going. She'd gotten it out from the library at the start of the day, with it being a diary from one of the very old members of the Fell family, that the library had presumably only kept because the Fells were one of the founding families. She had hoped that she would find something about Damon or Stefan in it, but so far there had been nothing about the Salvatore family or anything about Katherine. However, the book was from the mid 1800's, so Veronica still had some form of hope that she'd find something useful for Alaric.

"Because I don't fancy being emotionally scarred in case I accidentally call her during something intense?" Veronica inquired in a slightly light hearted manner, causing Caroline to giggle once more. "Besides, she's on a date, and it'd be rude for me to interrupt. She probably wouldn't appreciate it, I know that I wouldn't if I was on a date." The young witch mumbled, turning the page of the book, revealing yet another page of incredibly scruffy handwriting. Honestly, with how much she was struggling with reading the person's writing, it wasn't any surprise that she hadn't found anything very helpful regarding her search for some form of connection between Damon and Alaric's wife.

She was brought out of her thoughts as she heard Caroline let out another teasing laugh, causing a look of slight intrigue to take over her expression. The young Bennett witch took a small sip from her cup of coffee a short while later, regrettably taking a drink just in time for Caroline to comment, "Oh, come on, if you call her, I'll tell you about me and Matt and how we kissed last night." Veronica choked on her coffee at Caroline's abrupt revelation, letting out a spluttering cough as she carefully placed her coffee cup down on the table so that she didn't risk spilling it over the ancient book that she was reading from. After taking a few moments to clear her throat, hitting her chest lightly as she did so, the young Bennett girl lay down on the couch and returned her attention to the conversation that she was having with her blonde best friend.

"Y-You did _what_?" Veronica questioned, her voice hoarse, due to the choking fit that she'd had mere moments ago. "I… I thought that Matt wasn't over Elena?" She inquired, being truly confused about how this had come about. It was at this moment that she wished that she hadn't been spending so much time with Dana lately. She'd missed out on all of the stuff that her friends had been going through, and she hadn't been there for them when they'd truly needed it. Truly, she felt a bit guilty for abandoning them, and made a mental note from then on to try and at the very least dedicate some of her time when she wasn't helping Alaric hunt for answers or dealing with Dana and her latest family issue to hanging out with Caroline and Elena or practising some spells with Bonnie. They'd been there for her when she'd needed it in the past, she didn't want to just completely give up on the friends that she'd had ever since she was a little girl.

That would just be cruel.

"Well, it's complicated. We've been hanging out a lot lately, and… last night things just came to a head when Bonnie and I headed to the Grill." Caroline explained. "And we kissed. I mean, I know that he's not over Elena, and that it'll probably never work out, but… he makes me happy." Upon hearing the slightly breathless and love-struck tone that Caroline used when talking about Matt, a smile pulled at Veronica's lips, with her just being truly glad that her friend was happy. After everything that happened with Damon, and how horribly he had treated her and the way that he'd manipulated her, Caroline deserved to be happy with someone who would look after her. If anyone could do that, it was Matt, with the sweet and kind-hearted blond boy being just perfect for Caroline.

"You don't need to justify yourself to me, Care. Honestly, I'm just… I'm really glad that you're happy." Veronica spoke softly, voicing her previous thoughts to the blonde woman on the far end of the phone. Caroline let out another small laugh at her comment, although this one was noticeably softer than her previous teasing laugh, suggesting that this was just a genuine giggle of happiness.

"Thank you, Ron." Caroline answered, a sincere gratitude being held in her voice. "So, next point of business. Elena's with Stefan, I'm with Matt, Bonnie's with Ben, who are we going to hook you up with?"

"If you're about to suggest pairing me off with Tyler, I'm ending this call." Veronica timidly interrupted Caroline's comment, allowing a hand to slowly run through her hair as a scoff came from Caroline.

"I wasn't even going to suggest that, Ronnie. Don't worry, I'll keep you as far away from Tyler Lockwood as I can. I do have some form of standards when I play matchmaker." Caroline responded, enabling a small sigh of relief to fall from Veronica's lips with her being relieved that Caroline wasn't going to try and pair her off with the boy that she'd never really gotten along with, even when they were kids. "So, before I start digging to find you a good match, is there anyone that's caught your eye lately? Someone who's not Jeremy Gilbert?" Veronica lightly bit down on her lower lip at Caroline's question, with her not even being able to control the person that her mind went to in those moments. The tall brown haired male with the insanely gorgeous dark blue eyes who had haunted her mind practically from the moment that they'd first met. But she once again had to remind herself that she couldn't have him. Not even Caroline, with all of her wisdom on relationships, could do that.

With her heart slightly heavy in her chest, Veronica sat there for a few moments in complete silence, before she forced herself to respond, "N-No." The young Bennett witch internally cursed herself for being so unsure with her answer, knowing that was only going to encourage Caroline to believe that she really liked someone and with Caroline being as determined as she was, she wasn't going to stop until she found an answer. Thankfully, in those moments, there was an abrupt knock at the front door, saving her from having to put up with Caroline's interrogations. "Hey, Care, there's someone at the door, so I'm gonna have to go. I'll talk to you tomorrow though, okay?" She spoke as she slowly got onto her feet, hearing another loud and slightly impatient knock on the door, causing her to jump slightly. After bidding Caroline farewell, and receiving a goodbye from the girl in response, Veronica ended the call. She placed her phone into her pocket, and soon approached the front door, pulling it open to see a clearly very bedraggled Dana.

With two large tears in her shirt, messy hair and clearly slightly angry eyes, Dana looked absolutely nothing like the calm and collected sarcastic girl that Veronica was used to seeing. A look of concern formed on Veronica's expression upon seeing the girl in such a state, as she almost immediately stepped to the side and invited her inside, with the female vampire soon stumbling inside. As Veronica closed the front door behind her, she heard Dana's dry voice comment, "Right, just letting you know for future reference, don't insult Elena and don't mess with Damon. It doesn't end well." Dana tugged off her leather jacket violently, with Veronica only being more confused and worried as she saw the holes in the tough leather material as the vampire threw the jacket onto the couch.

"What did you do?" Veronica asked with a slight shake in her voice, watching as Dana quickly placed her hand up her shirt for a few moments, wincing slightly before her hand dropped down to her side once, with what appeared to be a bloody piece of wood in her hand. Dana casually dropped the small piece of wood down on the wooden floor of the hallway, clearly not caring about the slowly drying crimson liquid on her hands as a result of her apparently delving into a wound of hers to get the piece of wood out of her chest.

"Long story." Dana responded, causing a small sigh to fall from Veronica's lips.

"What did you do to Elena?" Veronica added on softly, her concern for her friend clear in the way that she spoke, fearing that in her anger, Dana might have done more than just insult Elena. The blue-eyed Salvatore girl sighed softly at Veronica's question, as she picked her jacket up off the couch, her fingers idly studying the tear in the material before her attention returned to Veronica a short while later.

"It doesn't matter, she's fine." Dana spoke dismissively. "I just… I might have said something that… That wasn't received too well." Veronica's eyebrows furrowed at the woman's response, not understanding why Dana wouldn't just tell her what she'd said. Veronica wasn't the type to shout or kick off. If anything, Dana's refusal to tell her what had happened was only making her more worried about Elena.

"Dana. Please tell me, what did you say?" Veronica prompted once more as she wrapped her arms around herself, merely watching as the female vampire's eyes once again went to the leather jacket in her hands, her fingertips almost caressing the black material for a few moments. A silence fell between the pair, with Veronica's large chocolate coloured eyes looking at the female vampire expectantly, a small sigh falling from her lips when Dana didn't speak once more. Instead, the female vampire turned on her heel and approached the base of the nearby staircase, her cold blue eyes looking over at the witch that stood before her.

"Is your Grams home?" Dana asked, with Veronica becoming slightly infuriated with the female's refusal to tell her anything, but Veronica didn't want to demand that Dana tell her what had just happened, and how she had ended up in such a state. In her opinion, violence and force wouldn't be the way to get through to Dana. If you tried to act as though you had any form of power over her, Dana would just feel the need to get defensive and fight back, and that wouldn't end up getting her anywhere. Instead, Veronica just knew that she would have to be patient and calm with her, and just go along with her little whims if she wanted to get anywhere with her and get any form of answers.

Thus Veronica softly shook her head in response to Dana's question as her Grams had stepped out a short while ago, causing the female vampire to softly nod, her blue eyes lingering on the much younger witch. "Right, I'm going to go and try to clean myself up." Dana commented, with her bounding up the first few steps, before she came to a slow stop about midway up the steps as she soon looked down at the witch still stood in the hallway. "I told Damon to turn her." Dana spoke in an oddly soft tone, causing Veronica's eyes to widen and shock and confusion to run through her. She opened her mouth to just merely ask why the vampire thought it was okay to do that, before she was once again cut off by a knock at the door.

The Bennett witch glanced in the direction of the front door for a few moments upon hearing the knock, thinking that this was possibly the worst moment that she could have a visitor. As Veronica turned back to face the staircase and Dana, she wasn't really surprised to see that the female vampire had disappeared, presumably having headed upstairs to clean herself up as she had spoken of doing mere moments before she had dropped the revelation on her. Veronica was well aware that Dana didn't exactly like Elena, for reasons that she didn't quite understand, but she never thought that she'd go as far as being willing to allow Damon to kill her and not intervene. Although, truthfully, Veronica didn't know why she was so surprised that Dana could do such a thing, seeing as ever since they'd met all Dana had done was show that she was heartless and violent. She didn't really care about anyone around her, except for Veronica, something else that the Bennett witch didn't truly understand.

Apparently, her compassion was making her incredibly naïve when it came to her.

Sighing to herself, the young woman approached the front door once more, slowly pulling it open and being rather surprised to see Alaric, stood on her porch. His body appeared to be slightly tensed, with the look in his eyes suggesting that there was something that was causing him distress. The strong feeling of concern that Veronica had been experiencing mere moments ago about Elena returned upon seeing the look on the teacher's expression, her large brown eyes looking up into his slightly fearful blue ones. "Hi, Ronnie," Alaric greeted her softly, his expression slightly softening as his eyes lingered on the young woman before him. "I… I know that it's rather late, but… I need to talk to someone… Something happened at the school." Veronica's large brown eyes filled with worry once more at the teacher's response, as she stepped back and pulled the door open wider so that he would be able to come into the house. After giving her a small grateful smile, Alaric stepped into the house, coming to a stop a few inches away from the young Bennett girl.

"Would… Would you like some coffee?" Veronica's voice inquired softly as she closed the front door once more, turning her body to completely face the much taller teacher. "It's… It's one of the few things I'm very good at. I always turn to it in a time of crisis." She mumbled softly, internally cursing herself as she did so. Truthfully, she had no idea what she was even talking about anymore, Alaric probably thought that she was some kind of idiot who didn't think before they spoke. However, the teacher didn't give off this vibe as he merely shook his head, a small chuckle soon coming from his throat.

"I'm alright, thank you, Ronnie." Alaric spoke softly, his blue eyes meeting hers once more, as Veronica felt her cheeks slightly heat up as a result of the male looking directly into her eyes, not used to getting too much attention on her. Timidly she gestured towards the living room, signalling for him to head into the room, something that the male soon did. Once the pair of them had sat down on the couch, with Veronica noticing that the gap between them this time was smaller than it had been when they'd sat on the couch together that morning, the witch turned once again to face him. "Stefan and Dana came to the school today." Alaric began to speak, causing Veronica's eyebrows to furrow slightly, not liking where this seemed to be going. "Jeremy lent me this journal a while back, and they wanted it, I don't… I don't quite know how they knew it existed or what they wanted it for." A soft sigh fell from the teacher's lips as he lightly massaged his forehead for a few moments. Apparently, this subject wasn't a good one for him. "Stefan asked me how I knew about vampires, and I… I told him about Damon and Isobel." Veronica's entire body tensed at the male's response, presuming that if he'd told Stefan, then Dana also knew about all of this. Was that why Dana had come over- to talk to her about all of this? Was she going to try and stop her from going after Damon?

Veronica's mind was practically running in circles with all the questions that she had, only coming out of her panicked and worried thoughts when she felt Alaric gently reach out and lightly take hold of her hand in his. Once again, the feeling of his warm, kind hand enveloping hers caused her heart rate to noticeably increase, her wide brown eyes looking up into his. "You look so worried." Alaric's voice spoke softly, his blue eyes practically gazing down into hers as he spoke his words. "Veronica, I promise you that you have nothing to worry about. Stefan and Dana promised that they're going to help us to deal with Damon, they're not going to try and stop us or hurt us, if that's what you're worrying about." Alaric spoke lowly, his tone causing a sense of reassurance to run through the Bennett witch, hoping that the word of the two vampires would be kept in this circumstance. Her breath hitched in her throat as the male moved a small distance towards her, although he did admittedly still leave a gap between the pair of them. "Do you think that I can trust them to help me?" Alaric asked gently, clearly seeking the witch's counsel and opinion on this. "You seem to be the only person around here that knows anything about Dana, can I trust her?" Alaric added on, making sure to keep his voice at the same low volume that it had been for the entire conversation. His question caused the witch to truly doubt herself for a little bit. She wasn't too sure what answer she could give that would both satisfy Alaric and be truthful, as she honestly wasn't too sure if she could trust Dana or not.

Time and time again, Veronica had placed her faith and her trust in Dana, only for the female vampire to just break that trust mere moments later. From allowing Caroline to be abused and controlled by Damon as part of his sick little mind games, or from apparently actually telling Damon that he could turn Elena into a vampire, Dana seemed to be constantly giving off reasons for her not to trust her. And yet, once again, her stupid and stubborn belief that all people were capable of being good refused her to believe that she should completely write Dana off. Her optimism had caused her to believe that the heartlessness that Dana seemed to give off was merely a façade. It was just her pretending that she didn't care, an act. Whether that was to make her seem more fearsome to Stefan and Damon or for some other reason, Veronica didn't know but she was pretty certain that deep down, Dana was actually just a confused young woman who didn't know how to properly portray her emotions and had had enough of others telling her what to do which caused her to act irrationally.

It might take a little bit of time, but Veronica was determined to get to that girl, the real Dana.

"You can trust her." Veronica's voice softly spoke after leaving the teacher hanging for a few moments, coming back to the room as she did so. "She might seem like she doesn't care about anything, but… She'll help you. Her and Stefan." Veronica added on in an attempt to seem more certain in her belief that Alaric could trust Dana to help him with his quest to find answers, knowing that in those moments she truly was placing a lot of trust in Dana. Upon hearing her answer, the teacher gave his incredibly familiar crooked smile at the young woman, softly nodding as he continued to tightly hold onto her hand. The sensation was actually oddly comforting to the young woman, that was something she realised after a few moments.

"Thank you." Alaric spoke gently, lightly giving her hand a small comforting squeeze, before the sound of a female voice caused Veronica to jump slightly.

"Well, it's good to see that I got here before you started making out." Dana's voice commented dryly, causing the witch to blush intensely at her friend's teasing comment. She turned back to face her, noticing the large smirk that was on the vampire's lips, her heart nervously racing within her chest. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone about your super-secret meetings. I don't intend of playing the awkward third wheel, I've had enough of that today after spending a day with Stefan and Elena. I don't need to spend more time watching couples gaze into each other's eyes, so I'm out of here. See you around, Ronnie." Veronica opened her mouth to try and speak, wanting to ask the female vampire to stay so that she could tell Alaric what she knew about Damon but before she had a chance to do so, Dana had vampire sped off out the front door and closed it behind her.

A sigh of slight frustration fell from Veronica's lips as she sat there, her attention soon returning to Alaric. "If you're going to be working with her, I'd suggest getting used to that. She really does know how to make an entrance, make an exit and leave you feeling incredibly bemused after she leaves." Veronica commented softly, causing a small chuckle to come from Alaric soon afterwards.

"I'll… bear that in mind." Alaric spoke jokingly as Veronica turned back to look at him, her brown eyes noticing that the teacher appeared to be studying the many books that Veronica had been reading from throughout the day that were placed carefully on the coffee table a short distance away from them.

"That's, um… That's my research. About Damon." Veronica explained, presuming that he was wondering what it was. "I… I haven't really found out anything yet, so… So don't get too excited. D-Damon and Stefan were turned by a woman called Katherine in 1864." Veronica began, as she soon proceeded to spend the next several minutes, nervously explaining to him everything that had been told to her by Dana. Alaric listened patiently to her story, occasionally nodding to show that he was actually listening to the words that she was speaking with his hand never once coming untangled from hers, something that the Bennett girl was incredibly grateful for. Once she'd come to an end with everything that she knew about Damon and the rest of the Salvatore family at that moment in time, Veronica gave a small and slightly awkward smile. "And, uh, yeah, that's… that's it." She mumbled shyly, bringing up her spare hand that wasn't holding Alaric's to shyly rub the back of her neck. "Sorry that it's not very useful, I'm looking for a link between them, I just… Haven't found it yet." Veronica commented, causing Alaric to softly shake his head at her response, his blue eyes looking away from the books to look directly at her once more.

"You never know what might be helpful, Veronica." Alaric's voice commented, as he gave her another crooked smile. "I don't quite know why you're doing all this, and why you're willing to spend your weekend researching from some incredibly old and probably somewhat boring books to help out an old history teacher, but it's very kind of you. It really does mean a lot that you're willing to do this and… And that I don't have to go through this alone." Veronica's timid blush once again returned at the teacher's response, with her opening her mouth to respond that she didn't mind helping him out, before she felt him slowly release her hand. However, before she even really had a chance to observe the difference that she felt, Alaric slowly and gently placed his arms around the much smaller Bennett girl, moving once again slightly closer to her in order to do so. After staying like that for a little bit, presumably make sure that he wasn't making the woman uncomfortable or that she was okay with him being this close to her, he pulled her towards him once more and started lightly hugging the smaller girl in his arms. One of his large hands rested comfortingly on her lower back, whilst his other hand slowly came to rest between her shoulder blades, with his fingertips lightly being able to brush against the tips of her long dark brown hair as he did so.

Veronica's heart almost immediately began to nervously race at perhaps the fastest that it had ever been, with her certainly not being used to guys that weren't Jeremy or Matt hugging her. It was a weird feeling at first, feeling the warmth that seemed to be radiating off of his body, but she soon realised that she liked the sensation. Having his firm body pressed against hers, his arms wrapped tightly and reassuringly around her although his grasp did once again have a slight delicacy to it, just as it had done when he'd danced with her. It was almost as if he were frightened that if he held onto her too tightly, he would harm her. After taking a brief amount of time to make sure that Alaric wasn't going to suddenly push her away and to truly lose herself in the amazing feeling of being held in his arms, Veronica allowed her own arms to wrap around the teacher. She found it easier to allow her arms to lightly wrap around his neck and upper shoulders due to the position that they were in, her stomach filling with butterflies as her fingers lightly brushed against his hair as she wrapped her arms around him, feeling that his hair was actually incredibly soft underneath her touch. Allowing her head to slightly move forwards so that it was resting against his shoulder and the soft material of his jacket, Veronica slowly closed her brown eyes, truly getting herself lost in just how secure she felt to have Alaric's arms around her as she realised just how special she felt in those moments.

Although she knew to Alaric that this was probably just his way of thanking her for everything that he'd done to help her, Veronica couldn't help the emotions that hit her in those moments, the many different emotional connotations that her brain was making as a result of the gesture. As she breathed in, she was hit with a series of scents that came from the man, a combination of bourbon, textbooks and what she presumed was the lingering scent of his cologne, knowing that any time she smelt any of those scents in future, she would always be brought back to this moment. That was something she loved the thought of.

Quite comfortably, her and Alaric stayed there, with Veronica not actually being sure of just how long they held each other for. It was almost as if the mere moment that he'd taken her into his arms, time had practically ceased to exist for her. All she could even really comprehend in those moments was the comforting warmth that the teacher provided her with and the feeling of her heart racing at about a million miles an hour within her chest. Although she knew that it eventually would have to, as nothing really lasted forever, Veronica didn't want this moment to end. She wanted to stay in it forever, just him and her, something that she realised would probably sound incredibly possessive or demanding.

This was insanely wrong, and yet, Veronica was pretty sure that she'd never experienced something more right in all of her life.

They just seemed to perfectly fit together, although she wasn't too sure if that was just her deluded romantic mind talking. Gradually, Veronica was brought out of her romanticised little bubble that contained solely herself and Alaric when she heard the sound of a very familiar and soft female voice from the doorway. "I see that we have a visitor." Veronica's eyes slowly opened upon realising that was her grandmother's voice, causing a slight sensation of panic to run through her, fearing that her grandmother didn't really like the idea of her granddaughter hugging her teacher. Slowly and incredibly hesitantly, Veronica broke away from the hug, feeling Alaric's arms unwrap from around her as Veronica looked back at her grandmother. The elder woman was stood by the front door, a short distance away from the pair in the living room although Veronica noticed that she didn't appear to have a strongly disapproving look on her expression.

"G-Grams." Veronica stumbled over her words nervously as she slowly got onto her feet, her large brown eyes watching as her grandmother entered the room slowly, a small and slightly kind smile pulling at her lips. "Y-You've met… Mr S-Saltzman, right?" Veronica inquired, as the elder woman looked over at the teacher that was sat on the couch with a slightly awkward look on his own expression, with her soon giving a small nod in response to her granddaughter's question.

"We met this morning, child." Her grandmother confirmed, as Alaric gave her a small and what Veronica could have almost sworn was a partially nervous smile in response. His fingers lightly ran through his hair as he looked from Veronica to the elder woman, with him soon slowly rising to her feet. "Hello again, Alaric."

"Mrs Bennett." Alaric responded politely to her greeting, giving a small nod of respect once he had gotten onto his feet and placed his hands in his pockets. "It's nice to see you again, but, I… uh, don't want to overstay my welcome." Alaric murmured, as his sapphire eyes went to Veronica soon afterwards, giving her a gentle and slightly crooked smile. "I should probably get going, I've got marking and stuff to do." He spoke gently, lightly placing a hand on Veronica's upper arm soon afterwards. "Thank you for your help, Ronnie. I'll see you on Monday. Good night." Alaric bid the two women in the room farewell, his eyes lingering on Veronica's large brown ones for a few moments, before he soon headed towards the front door. After politely waving goodbye, Alaric headed out of the door, and softly shut it behind him.

Almost immediately, Veronica's attention went to her grandmother, as she began to nervously ramble, "I-I swear that there's nothing going on between us… I mean, he… he's just my teacher, I'm just… helping him. With research." Veronica's grandmother softly chuckled at the young witch's nervous reassurances, as she softly shook her head, reaching out and taking hold of her granddaughter by the shoulders.

"Veronica, you don't need to explain anything. Mr Saltzman seems like a good man, especially when compared to the other… less charming people that you hang around with." Her grandmother commented softly, causing a weak smile to pull at Veronica's lips, although she was still rather nervous that her grandmother was going to tell her that she couldn't see the teacher again. "It has been an incredibly long time since I've seen that glint of happiness in your eyes, Ronnie." She added on, causing the younger witch's blush to slightly return. Her grandmother looked down at her with slight pride in her eyes, as she softly brushed some of her dark coloured hair behind her ear, resulting in her blush being more noticeable. "And even if you really are nothing as you claim," her grandmother began once more, the smile on her lips slightly growing, "I wouldn't be the one to tell you to stop if you were to become something more."

Veronica lightly brought her lower lip between her teeth at her Grams' comment before she soon allowed her arms to lightly wrap around the elder woman, deciding to show her gratitude to her through a gesture as with how nervous she was feeling in those moments, she was pretty sure that she'd just end up coming out with a rambling mess of words that wouldn't make any form of sense whatsoever.

Even though she knew that she stood no chance with Alaric romantically due to Isobel and the fact that he was almost definitely not interested in her in that manner, she couldn't help but be glad that her Grams was at least in support of her finding some form of happiness in what she had with the teacher.

Just for once, the universe seemed to be wanting her to be happy.

 **AN: And I'm going to end it there! Thank you for reading! I hope that you enjoyed! Please let me know what you thought and I'll see you on Friday for the next update!**


	35. Chapter 34: I Am Your Worst Nightmare

**AN: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, any of the characters or the plot, that belongs to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. I solely own Dana and Veronica. All rights go to their original owners.**

Veronica felt a small sigh fall from her lips as she slowly rolled onto her side, her large brown eyes looking up at the alarm clock by her bedside table, noticing that it was currently just gone ten am in the morning before her eyes soon settled on the picture of her and Bonnie that was next to the clock. After raking her hands through her scruffy dark coloured hair, the young Bennett girl slowly sat up and soon rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she suddenly realised that when she'd gone to bed, Bonnie hadn't come home yet. Was she back now? Slowly, she clambered out of her warm bed, leaving the room and approaching the room that her sister normally slept in whenever they stayed around their grandmother's and softly knocking on the thick wooden door. "Bonnie?" Her sleepy and slightly hoarse voice spoke, waiting there for a few moments.

Veronica knew that she was probably just freaking out over nothing, and that her sister might have happened to have stayed out late with her date or had even gone back to his, but Veronica couldn't really ignore the heavy feeling in her chest. She'd felt it the night before, the almost overwhelming feeling in her stomach that there was something wrong when Bonnie hadn't come home by midnight the night before. In those moments, Veronica had merely dismissed her intuition as just her being incredibly paranoid, with her being a ridiculously overprotective sibling who needed to learn that her sister need time to herself, but now Veronica wasn't too sure. Upon not receiving a response from her sister, Veronica once again softly knocked on the door, her hands now noticeably shaking in fear. Her dark coloured eyes filled with concern as her knocking was once again met with silence, causing her to shakily place her hand on the door handle and slowly enter her sister's bedroom. Her eyes roamed across the room for any sign of her sister, nothing but panic rushing through her veins as there was no sign of her elder sister in the room, and the bed in the far corner of the room didn't even look like it had been slept in recently.

Surely, if she was going to be staying over at Ben's place, she would have at the very least texted to let Veronica or her Grams know where she was?

Bonnie wasn't known for being quite so careless or nonchalant. She knew that Veronica got incredibly worried when it came to her, given that as their mom and dad weren't around, Veronica and Bonnie were insanely close. Other than Jeremy and her Grams, Bonnie was the person that she worried the most about and wanted to keep safe the most. She knew that might make her come across as being overprotective, but now that she knew that vampires existed and lived in this town, she would far rather be safe than sorry when it came to one of the last remaining members of her family. After once again scanning the room to make sure that there was no sign of her twin, Veronica left the room once more, deciding to head downstairs and ask if her Grams had seen her or heard from her before she allowed true panic to fully take over.

In those moments, she didn't really care that she was still in her pyjamas and that she looked like a mess as she headed downstairs, encountering the elderly woman in the kitchen as she was apparently in the middle of making tea. As Veronica walked through the doorway into the small kitchen, her grandmother looked back at her, apparently picking up on the feeling of panic that seemed to be practically radiating off of Veronica as her head tilted slightly. As her own dark coloured eyes met those of her granddaughter, she temporarily stopped making the tea and soon approached the younger Bennett witch, lightly taking hold of her hands in hers. "What's wrong, baby?" She asked affectionately, her eyes looking directly into hers.

"Have… Have you heard from Bonnie?" Veronica's voice softly inquired, her voice revealing just how worried she was about her sister, causing her grandmother to softly shake her head in response. "She… She didn't come home last night, and I'm… I'm a bit scared that something bad might have happened. I don't know if it's just me being paranoid, but I… I don't feel right." Veronica responded quietly, causing her grandmother to softly smile in response, although she too seemed a little bit worried by Veronica's feeling.

"I haven't, Ronnie, but… There is no need for you to be quite so dismissive of your instincts. Bonnie might not necessarily actually be in trouble this time around, but please don't ignore your intuitions in the future. You and Bonnie are both twins with magical abilities, you're bound to have some form of bond between you." Her grandmother spoke with an air of reassurance, with Veronica taking a few moments before she silently nodded in response. "Call her in a little bit, and if she doesn't pick up, then we shall start to get worried and look for her, okay?" The young Bennett witch looked up at the elderly woman stood before her, lightly biting down on her lower lip for a brief while, not entirely sure that she wanted to wait a while when her sister might potentially be in danger but she felt as though her grandmother was wiser than she was. She was more likely to know what to do in order to make sure that Bonnie was safe, and thus, Veronica believed that perhaps going with her suggestion of a plan might be a good idea.

Thus, slowly and hesitantly, she gave another small nod, agreeing to wait a little while before she organised a full hunt for her sister, although she wasn't entirely sure that she was going to stick to that promise. She knew what she was like when she got worried. She wouldn't listen to any form of reason when it came to Bonnie, and she didn't really want to take any chances. Although she would feel awful about breaking a promise to her grandmother, she would probably end up going out to ask anyone if they'd seen Bonnie once she'd gotten dressed.

As her dark brown eyes looked over at her grandmother, she realised that her hesitancy to just leave the issue seemed to have been picked up by the elder woman as her expression softened and she lightly squeezed Veronica's hands comfortingly. "Of course, I wouldn't stop you if you were to go out and look for her yourself." She spoke softly, the weak comforting smile still permanently held on her expression. "Just… Please, don't ask that vampire friend of yours for help. I really don't like her. She's trouble, Veronica, and I don't want you, or Bonnie for that matter, being embroiled in her issues." Her grandmother added on with an almost pleading manner to her tone, something which caused Veronica's eyebrows to furrow slightly. She didn't really understand the whole situation between her grandmother and Dana, and seeing as both of the women were incredibly stubborn when it came to giving answers, she believed that even if she did ask what had happened she wouldn't get a straight answer. Regardless, the young witch's eternal optimism overtook her and caused her to ask,

"What exactly happened between you two, Grams? I mean, Dana once said something about you… judging her in the past or something?" Veronica's voice inquired softly, causing a small scoff to fall from the elder woman's lips, clearly very amused by Veronica's words.

"I can judge her for what she did all that I want to. A few weeks ago, whilst you were off doing… something, I'm not quite sure what exactly it was, Stefan and Dana came to the house looking for Bonnie." Her grandmother began, with Veronica remembering that day clearly. That had been the day that Alaric had told her what he really was. "When I told Dana to stay away from you, she tried to attack me and had Stefan have not been there, she would have killed me. She is violent and impulsive, and I don't know what she wants from you, but it can't be good, Veronica." She answered, causing Veronica's large brown eyes to widen and worry to run through her system. No one had told her about this event. Dana had never mentioned it and her Grams certainly hadn't, for reasons that she didn't quite understand at that moment in time.

She just seemed to be getting more and more reasons to stay away from Dana as time went on.

"Did she hurt you?" Veronica questioned once she had finally found her voice, the worry that she felt for her grandmother clear in her tone, resulting in the older woman's smile slightly growing in attempted reassurance.

"No, she didn't, don't worry, Ronnie. Stefan got in the way before she could even lay a hand on me." Her grandmother reassured her softly. "And besides, even if he hadn't have been there, I'm still more powerful than Dana could even dream of being. I'm not just some doddery old woman, you should know that by now, Veronica." Veronica weakly smiled at her grandmother's confident response, but she still couldn't help but be a bit shaken. "So, please, just stay as far away from her as you can get. I don't understand why she's following you around all the time, but with her, it can't be good. My story should tell you that. I don't want a repeat of what happened to Janine to happen to you, Veronica." Her grandmother's words caused Veronica's head to tilt slightly, not understanding what her relative, who had apparently had an incredibly close relationship with Dana all those years ago, had to do with why she should stay away from Dana.

Upon seeing her granddaughter's slightly confused expression, Sheila softly sighed and noticeably tightened her grasp on her hands. "One night during the 1950's, she was attacked by a vampire." The elder woman was noticeably tensed as she spoke, with a clear emotion behind her words. "She survived the attack, thankfully, but I don't want the same to happen to you. So just for once, child, please, listen to me and don't get attached to her. Promise me, Veronica." The young witch, who was still experiencing a sensation of shock as a result of the sudden revelations that her grandmother had just given her, looked up at the slightly taller woman and contemplated her answer for a few moments. With her brown eyes widened in fear and a clear hesitancy to her actions, the young Bennett witch nodded, making another promise that she wasn't entirely sure that she could keep.

After all, Dana had a bit of a tendency to follow her around and refuse to give up, no matter how many times the girl told her to stay away.

The elder woman weakly smiled at her granddaughter's response, as she soon released Veronica's hands and pulled the smaller witch in for a comforting hug, a gesture that Veronica almost instantly returned. The pair continued to hug for a few moments, before Veronica tentatively pulled away from the hug. "I… I should, uh, go and get dressed." Veronica mumbled awkwardly, now more than ever needing some time to herself to fully process everything that had just happened and to add what her Grams had just told her to her overall picture of Dana. It seemed as though her Grams understood this, as the woman nodded in kind understanding. Veronica gave her a small smile in gratitude, before she soon turned on her heel and headed back up the stairs, her mind constantly rerunning her grandmother's words and leaping to several conclusions that Veronica knew she had little to no evidence to support and probably shouldn't buy into but she couldn't help it. She'd assumed that the vampire that had attacked her relative had been Dana. Who else was it likely to have been? She supposed that it could have been Damon or Stefan, with either of them being likely candidates due to Damon's careless and violent demeanour and Dana's deep rooted hatred of Stefan, so she knew that she shouldn't have leapt to the conclusion of it being Dana quite so quickly. It wasn't fair to Dana to do so, especially given that the vampire hadn't had a chance to defend herself and tell her side of the story.

Sighing to herself as she entered her room, the young witch forced herself to push all thoughts of Dana, her past and the attack on her relative to the back of her mind. Going over it again and again wouldn't get her anywhere and would more than likely drive her insane. Instead, she forced herself to focus on the other major issue in her life, the reason why she had been so quick to get out of bed that morning and why there was still fear running through her system.

Bonnie and her whereabouts.

After closing her bedroom door behind herself, Veronica soon approached her bedside table and picked up her phone, knowing that she couldn't go to Dana to ask for help in finding her sister. Seeing as Caroline was probably busy with Matt and Elena was probably with Stefan, she only really had one person that she could go to with this. They were also probably the best choice to help her look for her sister, if they were willing to help her out. Dialling the number, Veronica held the phone up to her ear, her heart pounding loudly within her chest as it seemed as though the ringing tone went on forever, the familiar noise only adding to her anxiety. Her heart practically stopped in her chest when the phone was finally picked up on the other end, the familiar male voice soon reaching the Bennett girl's ears. "Ronnie? What's wrong?" Alaric's familiar and soft tones inquired, causing a small sigh of slight relief to fall from Veronica's lips at the fact that he'd actually picked up.

"H-Hi, Mr… Mr Saltzman. I, uh, I need your help. Please." Veronica's voice inquired in her usual nervous manner with her quickly glancing over in the direction of her closed bedroom door in a slightly panicky manner, not wanting her grandmother to open the door and discover that she had already gone against her promise to wait a while before truly panicking over where Bonnie could be. "I mean, it's nothing dangerous, I just… I can't find Bonnie and I'm worried about her. I know that it might just be me panicking over nothing, but, you know, I don't want to take chances. She might be in trouble, maybe Damon's got her or something, and I… I just want to make sure that she's completely safe." Veronica erratically rambled, cutting herself to take in an inhale of breath, before she soon began to speak once more, "I… I know that maybe I'm just freaking out over nothing, but I want to be certain. Do… Could you get me a map of Mystic Falls? There… There's a spell that I can do, to find her. I'm sorry, I know that you probably want to be involved in my drama this early in the morning, but there's no one else I can really go to." The witch soon forced herself to shut up so that Alaric would have a chance to respond, with Veronica desperately hanging on for the teacher's response that thankfully came a few moments later.

"Of course, Ronnie." Alaric responded. "I can get you a map, don't worry about that." Alaric added on, causing another sigh of relief to fall from Veronica's lips. "And, if Bonnie is in danger, I'll help you get her back. I've got to look out for my teammate, right?" A weak laugh fell from Veronica in response to the male's light hearted comment, with her now being incredibly glad that she had gone to Alaric. He seemed to be the absolute perfect combination of sensible, caring and amusing that meant that Veronica would be able to deal with the vast amount of stress that she was feeling in those moments.

"Thank you, Mr Saltzman." Veronica spoke, with her genuinely being impressed with herself once she'd realised that she'd actually been able to get through an entire sentence without stuttering or stumbling over her words in some way. She strongly doubted it, but perhaps she was finally getting over her awkwardness around the teacher and was beginning to get comfortable around him. "I, uh, I need to get dressed and… gather some things, but… I can come over to yours, if you'd like? To… To, uh, to pick up the map and do the spell? I mean, you can, you know, you can come here, if you'd prefer, it's really up to you." Veronica soon anxiously responded, realising that she didn't want to seem as though she was demanding that she come over. That would make her seem bossy and demanding, and she didn't want that. She also didn't want it to seem as though she was telling the teacher what to do. However, as always, Alaric merely laughed at her nervous response with Veronica truly not understanding how he didn't find her anxiety and stumbling to be annoying.

"It's fine, Veronica, really. I don't mind. I mean, my place is a mess, but if you can cope with a smell of bourbon, then come on over." Alaric invited her kindly, with it not taking Veronica long to realise that she was blushing and her heartrate had picked up once more. Shyly, the witch looked down at the floor, a genuine smile pulling at her lips for the first time that day at the idea of getting to spend more time with him in his apartment.

"I… I would like that. Th-Thank you, Mr Saltzman." Veronica responded politely, with Alaric soon giving her his address. Apparently, he lived directly opposite the Grill in the centre of town, meaning that it would thankfully be easy for Veronica to find and get to. After quickly scribbling down the male's address onto a small post-it note that had been on her desk, Veronica neatly tucked a lock of dark coloured hair behind her ear. "W-Well, thank you. I'll, um, I'll be over in a bit once I've… gotten what I need." Veronica spoke, knowing that she would need to get dressed before she went to visit the teacher. As she began to rummage through the closet to try and pick out something to wear, Alaric's voice once again came through the receiver in his usual light hearted and slightly playful tone.

"Sure. I'll see you in a bit, Ronnie!" As soon as the teacher had bid her farewell, Veronica hesitantly brought the call to an end, slowly placing her phone down on the nearby table. A sense of security ran through her for the first time since she had so quickly awoken that morning, realising that now she had Alaric on her side, if something bad had happened to Bonnie then she would actually be able to do something about it.

She was now more insanely grateful than ever that she and Alaric were friends and looked out for each other. Now neither one of them would ever have to struggle with something alone.

* * *

Dana softly sighed to herself as she looked up from the book that she was reading to look over in Damon's direction, seeing the apparently incredibly unimpressed look that was held on the male vampire's expression as he read the aged pages of the Grimoire that had caused so many issues in the first place. The female vampire opened her mouth to speak to the other vampire, not even entirely sure what she was going to say. All she knew was the human part of her wanted to make it up to Damon, to prove that he could trust her, as he was the only remaining member of her family that she could actually stand. Dana might act as though she was heartless and didn't care about what happened to her as a result of her actions, but every so often, she did. She didn't want to be completely alone, given that she was going to be living for an eternity. "Damon?" Dana inquired, a slight sigh of frustration falling from her lips when the vampire's attention didn't even temporarily move away from the ancient book. "Damon!" The female snapped once more, placing down the dull book that she had been reading from and approaching the vampire sat in the small chair. "How long are you going to keep acting as though I don't exist? You can't stay mad at me forever."

"Well, I'm certainly going to try." Damon commented dryly, merely flipping that page of the book that he was reading, a look of exasperation soon forming on Dana's expression. She went to speak once more, before she soon cut herself off as Stefan entered the room, wearing a clear look of anxiety and panic on his face. Dana found herself being incredibly confused, wondering what it was that could have happened to cause the vampire to become quite so concerned and fearful, but it didn't take her long to come to a conclusion about what was happening. Of course, it was to do with Elena.

It was always to do with Elena.

Stefan lingered a short distance away from Damon, as he soon commented, "Anna took Elena." Dana's head slightly tilted at Stefan's response, as she soon raised an eyebrow.

"She's missing again? Wow, colour me surprised." Dana spoke dryly, as the Gilbert girl seemed to be unable to stay out of trouble for more than five minutes. "You know, you're really bad at this whole protective boyfriend thing, Stefan. Have you considered maybe getting her a tracking bracelet for her birthday?" The female vampire commented, earning her a small discouraging glare from Stefan.

"Not now, Dana." Stefan instructed, as his eyes went to Damon just in time for the male vampire to comment,

"I gathered that she was missing from your 600 voice mails, Stefan." Damon spoke with the same careless tone that he had used with Dana mere moments ago, slightly relaxing back into the smooth and perfectly preserved leather chair that he was sitting in, the coal-black colour of the old leather matching perfectly with the clothes that Damon was wearing. Once again the raven-haired vampire turned the page of the book, the crinkly and lightly browned pages of the grimoire letting out a soft noise as he did so, showing their age. Upon hearing Damon's apathetic response Stefan took a few steps forwards, now being next to Dana and incredibly close to Damon, with an almost nervous manner to his movements.

"Damon, all night long, every single street in town, I've been searching. What if your blood hasn't passed out of her system?" Stefan questioned, with his mind clearly having leapt to the absolute worst conclusion the mere moment that he had found out that Elena was missing, with Dana soon rolling her eyes.

"And what a tragedy that would be." She murmured to herself, as she really didn't care about what happened to her. For once, Stefan ignored her sarcastic comments as his attention stayed on Damon, clearly desperately wanting his help in looking for Elena.

"Well, then at least you know you'll see her again." Damon responded, with Stefan's expression not once shifting from his concerned and desperate one.

"Please." Stefan virtually begged as he sat down on the nearby couch that was practically identical to the chair that Damon was sitting in, with Dana hesitantly moving out of the way so that he would be able to look directly at Damon, the female vampire soon coming to a stop on the right-hand side of Damon. She casually rested against the small table that held a large lamp and a small glass of bourbon that Damon had apparently been drinking from before he started reading, her attention soon going back to Stefan as he spoke once more. "What do you know?" Stefan prompted, waiting a few moments to see if Damon would give him some form of response before he began to talk once more upon not getting a response from his brother. "You were with Anna, you must know where's she living. Just tell me where I can find her." Upon hearing Stefan's response, for the first time since the conversation had begun, Damon looked up from the book, shooting a small glance over at Stefan.

"Nope." Damon responded, a slightly cunning smirk soon pulling at his lips. "You can go now. The both of you." He commented, clearly also wanting Dana to get out of the room, earning a noise of annoyance from Dana. She was beginning to tire of this seemingly never ending conversation.

"You do realise that I'm friends with a witch, right?" Dana took this moment to interject, her eyebrow raised as Stefan's eyes briefly glanced over at her. "Well, I mean, I'm pretty sure I'm still friends with her, anyway. She doesn't seem to be responding too well to realising that I don't want to be friends with all of her friends. If you're so desperate to find your precious Elena, do you want me to ask Veronica to do a locator spell or something?"

Stefan lightly bit down on his lower lip at Dana's response, clearly contemplating his response to her comment. "I don't think it'd be fair to Veronica for you to try and use her as some form of way out of the current situation between the three of us, Dana. You're the one who got yourself into this situation by refusing to be loyal to anyone or care about anyone, and now everyone's annoyed at you. You have to live with that, Dana. You suddenly pretending to care about what happens to Elena and her wellbeing won't fix anything." The Salvatore brother responded, causing Dana to shoot him a questioning look, but she soon rolled her eyes.

"Fine, whatever, I'll take my sensible idea and shut up. Don't come crying to me when Elena's dead." Dana responded coldly, earning a small sigh from Stefan. The younger Salvatore brother lightly massaged his forehead, clearly feeling very stressed about the situation they were in as his eyes soon went back to Damon, apparently still determined to persuade his brother to tell him where Anna was.

"You know, all I can remember is hating you, Damon." Stefan began softly, with Damon seemingly taking little to no interest in what his brother had to say. "There might have been a time when that was different, but your choices have erased anything good about you." The amused look once again returned to Damon's expression upon hearing his brother's words as he gradually looked up from the old book before him, leaving it completely open on his lap. The neatly scribbled words on the old pages were just about visible to Dana from her position, but from what she could tell, it was just a random spell that had nothing to do with the tomb or how to open it. "But see, I also know you have just as much reason to hate me. This all began with me. Katherine got taken away from you because of me. And I'm sorry." Stefan concluded his short little speech, seeming genuinely sincere in his apology, as Damon's smirk softened to an almost genuine smile. Dana could have sworn for a few moments that he was genuinely touched by Stefan's apology as a result of the expression on his face, but she couldn't help but be a bit cynical. It was Damon after all.

"Apology accepted." Damon responded, continuing to look directly at his brother.

"So, please. Just tell me what you know." Stefan requested, with him apparently having been convinced that he'd made some form of progress with Damon in those moments, something that Dana doubted. There was no way that their centuries of arguing had been made up quite that easily. Damon made a noise in response as he began to close the large book that he had been reading from, causing Stefan to seemingly get increasingly desperate for answers now. "It's Elena, Damon. If you know something, tell me." Stefan basically begged his brother, with Damon merely sighing in response. Dana's eyebrows furrowed slightly as she watched Damon shut the book and get onto his feet, Stefan almost instantly copying his actions and staying close to his older brother. The anxiety that Stefan was clearly feeling about what had happened to Elena had never been more prevalent in those moments, as his green eyes looked widely up at his elder sibling.

"I mean this sincerely." Damon began, as Dana also forced herself upright and took a few steps towards the two brothers, although she did keep her distance just in case this didn't go the way that Stefan intended and he responded in a violent manner. Hanging on in desperation, Stefan nodded at his brother's words, his eyes still wide and full of anxiety as Damon soon concluded his statement with his voice practically radiating indifference. "I hope Elena dies. And Dana, if you follow me out of this room, I will lock you in one of the cells." Damon spoke with a small glance in Dana's direction, earning him a small glare from the female blue eyed vampire. This didn't seem to bother Damon though as he ignored Stefan's wide-eyed look of confusion and Dana's glare, and headed out of the room soon afterwards, leaving Dana and Stefan alone in the room. Dana turned to face Stefan once Damon had headed out of the room, giving a small shrug of her shoulders.

"Still sure that my suggestion is worse?" She questioned, causing Stefan to sigh, clearly stuck in a dilemma. The female vampire looked at him for a few moments, before she walked forwards. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be upstairs, attempting to figure out a way to make it up to you, because I care about you just that much, Stefan." She spoke sarcastically, playfully patting him on the shoulder before she proceeded to follow Damon out of the room.

Now it was all up to Stefan who he chose to work with to try and get Elena back.

 **AN: And I'm going to end it there! Thank you very much for reading! I hope you enjoyed! Please let me know what you thought, and I'll see you on Monday for the next update!**


	36. Chapter 35: You're My Parachute

**AN: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, any of the characters or the plot, that belongs to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. I solely own Dana and Veronica. All rights go to their original owners.**

After timidly taking a moment to brush some of her dark coloured hair away from her face, Veronica slowly approached the closed wooden door that was supposedly the entrance to Alaric's apartment, her breath once again catching in her throat. Panicking slightly, the witch glanced around, knowing that she probably shouldn't be here. She could quite easily get into a lot of trouble for being here, as could Alaric, and she knew that she should probably turn on her heel and just deal with this by herself. She shouldn't get Alaric involved in all of this drama, given that he had enough to deal with by himself, but Veronica couldn't help it. In those moments, she found herself needing emotional support more than ever. Coming out of her thoughts, the young witch glanced down at the post-it note that she held tightly in her right hand, the one that she had scribbled Alaric's address down on little over an hour ago, wanting to double check that she had the right address.

She did.

After taking a moment to once again fiddle with her hair in an almost panicky manner, the young Bennett witch forced herself to bring her hand up and softly knock on the door before she had a chance to turn on her heel and run off in the other direction like every nerve and part of her body was begging her to do. Her heart was in her throat as she waited, each second being dragged out to the point wherein they felt like hours, her nervous mind jumping around whilst she waited. What if she had written the address down wrong? What if Alaric had just been kidding about agreeing to help her? What if he'd decided to spend his day doing something else whilst he'd been waiting for her to show up? Forcing herself to let out shaky and irregular breaths in a failed attempt to calm herself down, the young Bennett witch focused her eyes on the large silver nine that was the only noticeable difference between the door to Alaric's apartment and that of the others on his floor due to all of the doors being a rather bland and unextraordinary brown colour and by the seems of it, were all made out of the same oak material. As Veronica continued to stand there, internally panicking the longer that she waited in front of the closed door, she contemplated turning on her heel and just leaving.

However, before she had more than a chance to take a small step back and lightly glance down at the staircase that would lead her to her freedom and escape from the embarrassment that she knew she was going to end up bringing on herself, the door opened. Veronica almost immediately turned back to face the open doorway, a small smile pulling at her lips as she caught sight of Alaric stood before her, dressed casually in a dark blue shirt and jeans. As Alaric's eyes settled on the much shorter Bennett girl, he returned the smile, with his having a noticeable warmth behind it. "Hey, Ronnie." He greeted her politely, as his expression softened and he stepped out of the way, giving the young girl a brief insight into his apartment. "Come in." He spoke with a small bob of his head, gesturing inside the apartment.

Wrapping her arms around herself timidly as her heart continued to loudly pound within her chest, Veronica slowly stepped inside, looking back at Alaric as he slowly closed the door behind her. "Are you okay? You sounded really panicky on the phone." Alaric almost immediately asked. "I mean, you had me worried for a few moments, I thought you were actually crying." Veronica once again weakly smiled at his response, as she gently nodded.

"I… I'm fine, thank you, Mr Saltzman." Veronica responded politely. "It's just… I'm overprotective when it comes to her. I know that's incredibly sad and that she almost definitely doesn't need my protection most of the time because she can handle herself, but I can't help it. Especially now that I know that vampires are real. She didn't come back from her date last night, and I've been freaking out ever since worrying about what might have happened to her. I mean, I get that it's perfectly logical and more sensible that she probably just stayed over at Ben's place, or Care's and forgot to tell me, but other than my Grams, she's really the only family I have." Veronica soon realised that she was rambling once more, cutting herself off before she got too deep into the reasons why she was quite so protective of Bonnie and her Grams, and why her parents weren't around. The very last thing that Alaric needed at that moment in time was an emotional Bennett witch in his apartment freaking out about something she probably shouldn't even be stressing about.

"S-Sorry, I'm rambling again, I… I really need to know when to shut up. I just get like this sometimes." Veronica apologised meekly, her brown eyes returning to Alaric as the teacher merely shook his head in response to her comments. Silently, he approached her, and lightly placed his larger hand on the young woman's upper shoulder, a gesture that he had done so many times in the past and was just perfect for how fearful the young witch was in those moments. Once again, his eyes met hers as he gave her a weak smile of attempted comfort, something that Veronica was insanely grateful for.

"Well, even if it does turn out that she just stayed at some boy's house, I'm sure Bonnie will appreciate you looking out for her. And maybe it'll remind her to call her family the next time that she decides to do so." Alaric commented in what was clearly supposed to be a reassuring tone, causing a feeble laugh to come from Veronica in response. "And, if that's not what happened, if it does turn out that the vampires took her, then we'll find her. Team Bennett-Saltzman never fails." Alaric added on jokingly, another slightly stronger laugh falling from Veronica in response to his comment and the oddly cute nickname that he'd given the pair of them.

"We need to come up with a better team name." She spoke softly in what was supposed to be her attempt at a light hearted tone, although from the soft chuckle that Alaric let out upon hearing her words, he apparently appreciated the joke despite her not saying it in the right manner.

"Hmm, well, when we spend another evening researching or something, we'll come up with a list of team names. As long as it's not anything too cliché like 'The Super Amazing Team', then I'm sure I'll be fine with whatever we come up with." Alaric spoke playfully, causing the witch to let out a laugh once more, feeling slightly disappointed as the teacher gently pulled his hand away from her upper arm and allowed it to drop down by his side. "I, uh, I made you coffee. I remember you saying that you always turn to it in a time of crisis, so I figured it'd help." Alaric commented with a softness held in his tone, Veronica's large brown eyes slightly widening as she realised that he'd actually remembered the nervous little ramble that she'd had the night before about how much she liked coffee. He actually had been paying attention to what she'd said. The mere thought was enough to get her heart racing within her chest once more, as a slightly shy blush pulled at her cheeks.

"Th-Thank you, that's really kind of you, Sir." Veronica responded gratefully, as the teacher gestured over in the direction of the breakfast bar and the few stools that were gathered around the far end, with it not taking long for the witch to notice the piece of paper that appeared to be a newly printed map that was beside the dark blue coffee mug that was giving off tiny amounts of steam to reveal that it was still warm. Slowly she approached the bar and sat down on one of the nearest stool after placing her bag on the counter, Alaric following after her as he sat down on the opposite side to her, the kind smile never once leaving his expression as he did so. The mere moment that the young Bennett girl had sat down, she gently brushed the back of her hand against the coffee mug to make sure that it wasn't scalding hot, before she picked it up and took a small sip of the warm brown liquid. A small sigh of relief fell from her lips as the familiar comforting liquid slid down her throat, just taking a few moments to enjoy the drink that she had used so many times in the past to bring her reassurance whenever anything in her life was giving her stress. Her large brown eyes soon went to Alaric as she gently placed the mug down on the counter once more, the blush now far more noticeable on her cheeks as she realised that her addiction to coffee would probably seem a bit weird to him. It was probably just another reason for him to view her as being slightly strange.

Her large chocolate coloured eyes met his dark blue ones from across the bar, a clearly shy look held on her expression as despite all of her best intentions, she found herself getting lost within his sapphire coloured eyes. She wasn't even entirely sure what it was about his eyes that were so insanely beautiful or alluring to her, she couldn't really begin to put it into words, but she knew that there was something there that drew her in every time their eyes met.

Perhaps it was the little twinkle that would appear in his eyes every time he laughed or showed any form of happiness, the little crinkles that would form at the very edges of his eyes each time he smiled at her, or just the amazing colour that his eyes were. Sure, she had seen blue eyes before. Matt was pretty infamous for his bright blue eyes, as was Caroline, but there was something about Alaric's dark blue ones that seemed to contain so many other flecks of different colours that held her attention and could easily get her heart racing in excitement. Her breath almost immediately hitched in her throat at the sudden realisation that it wasn't just her gazing into his eyes, but he appeared to be looking back at her with the same level of interest that she held as she looked at him, although Veronica strongly doubted it. Her eyes were nowhere near as pretty as his. They were just a deep brown colour, nothing very interesting, exotic or beautiful in her opinion. He probably wasn't even looking at her like that. He was probably just looking at her and wondering why she was staring at him in such a peculiar manner, a realisation that caused her to shyly break eye contact with him and look down at her coffee once more, trying her absolute hardest to hide the blush that was slowly beginning to form across her expression.

"It… It's perfect. Th-Thank you." Veronica shyly mumbled, glancing up through her dark curtain of hair to see Alaric softly smiling at her and giving a gentle nod in response to her words.

"You're very welcome, Ronnie." The teacher spoke softly, as Veronica took another small sip from the warm liquid, her attention soon going to the map before her, trying to find something else to focus on before she embarrassed herself further. After placing down the cup of coffee once more, being incredibly careful in her movements, she opened her bag and pulled out the large spell book that Dana had given her and putting it down on the nearby smooth wooden countertop. "So, what are you actually going to do? A tracking spell?" Alaric's voice curiously asked, causing Veronica to look up at him once more, softly nodding in response.

"This book, it, um, belonged to my grandmother's sister. In here, she calls it an adaptation of a locator spell, but I suppose that tracking spell basically means the same thing. I'm pretty sure she calls it that at one point." Veronica explained softly, beginning to gently flick through the pages in an attempt to find the spell that she had been looking at mere moments before she'd left the house, wanting to be incredibly careful so that she wouldn't risk damaging the pages. The very last thing that she wanted to do was destroy this important part of her family's history. "I've… I've never done it before, so this might go horrifically wrong. If… If that does happen, if it looks like the spell is getting too much for me, I'm going to need you to pull me back, if… if you don't mind, Mr Saltzman." Veronica requested softly. She hadn't done very much magic since she'd found out that she was a witch, so she had no idea if this spell was beyond her limits or not. "Of-Of course, you don't have to do that if you don't want to. I wouldn't want to put you to too much trouble." The young witch mumbled shyly, coming to a stop once she had found the page that had the spell on it, the incantation and instructions written in the scruffy handwriting that she had since come to recognise as belonging to Janine.

"What do I need to do?" Alaric asked gently, causing Veronica's large brown eyes to look over at the teacher, giving him a tiny smile to thank him for being willing to help her out with this spell as she knew it would have been much easier for him to just leave her to it.

"I think just taking hold of my shoulders should work. Physically move me away from the spell. From what I've experienced, not that I've done a lot of magic, it's like a trance. Moving me should break that trance." The young Bennett girl explained with a slightly rambling nature to her words, her lightly trembling fingers coming up to brush some of her dark coloured hair behind her ear timidly. "Could… Could you get me a knife? Or something sharp?" She requested, soon realising that her request sounded a bit violent, something that she hadn't intended to happen. Regardless, Alaric nodded and rose to his feet, soon picking out a small knife from one of the nearby drawers.

"So, is this where you stab me?" Alaric questioned jokingly, as Veronica laughed softly in response, delicately taking hold of the knife as he held it out to her and placing it down next to the map.

"Not today, Mr Saltzman." The Bennett girl responded in her own light hearted tone, a slightly playful glint held within her dark brown eyes, with her taking that moment to appreciate just how much his presence had calmed her down. After just spending a little bit of time with him, she didn't feel as though she was on the verge of having a panic attack anymore. Alaric chuckled at her comment, sitting back down opposite her soon afterwards. After giving a shaking and slightly nervous breath, the Bennett girl took another noticeably larger sip from her coffee, before moving the mug completely out of the way of the set-up spell to make sure that she didn't risk knocking it over when she performed the spell. After shooting Alaric another small glance, she slowly picked up the knife, allowing her dark brown eyes to close. Quietly, the young witch began to recite the spell under her breath, soon using the knife to cut into her palm as the blood that connected her to Bonnie would be the thing that would enable her to locate her sister. As the cold metal pierced the smooth skin of her palm, the witch winced and gave a whimper of pain, refusing to allow the stinging pain that was now radiating through her body to prevent her from doing this spell. Bonnie's wellbeing was more important to her than any pain that she might experience and thus she continued to softly mumble the incantation to the tracking spell, the initially complicated looking words flowing off her tongue with ease as the familiar sensation of magic ran through her body.

She made herself recite the spell exactly four times, believing that would be enough time to enable the spell to do whatever it needed to do, her eyes partially opening to look down at the map before her. The Bennett's heart gave a nervous flutter within her chest as she saw that the drops of blood that she had dropped onto the map had moved from where she had dropped them, evidenced by the faint crimson streaks that marked the piece of paper, with them now being placed over what appeared to be a motel on the map. Her attention went to Alaric, noticing the clear look of admiration that the teacher appeared to have within his eyes as he looked up from the map that he had previously been staring at, to look at Veronica. "I don't think that I'm ever going to get used to seeing you do magic." He commented in a joking manner. "It's… It's weird, but absolutely incredible what you can do, Veronica." Bashfully, Veronica blushed noticeably as her eyes glanced down at her hands for a few moments, a smile pulling at her lips almost automatically as a result of his compliment.

"Thank you." Veronica commented, her voice barely even audible due to the timid shake that it held as she looked down at the map once more, her eyes narrowing slightly as she studied the location where her sister supposedly was. Why was her sister at the tiny motel on the outside of town? It didn't make any form of sense. The young witch opened her mouth to speak, before the sound of her phone ringing within her bag reached her ears, causing her to delve into the faded blue satchel bag and pull out her phone. She couldn't help but become more confused upon seeing that it was Elena calling her, but she just supposed that the girl wanted to ask her about how Bonnie's date had gone, as she soon accepted the call. "Hey, Lena." Veronica greeted the person on the other end, presuming that it would be her friend, with her entire body tensing as she heard a voice that was almost definitely not Elena's on the other end.

"Hello, Veronica. Remember me?" Anna's voice asked coldly, causing a sensation of panic and worry to run through the Bennett witch, her eyes noticeably widening. The response of the young woman earned a look of slight confusion from the history teacher opposite her, as Veronica soon shakily got onto her feet, her knees nervously trembling beneath her.

"Anna? Why do you have Elena's phone?" Veronica inquired, now feeling incredibly confused about what was going on. Had something bad happened to Elena? Had she gone missing too? Anna let out a laugh in an almost mocking manner, apparently being able to pick up on the nervousness that the Bennett witch was experiencing due to the fearful tremble that she had within her voice.

"Well, Elena's not important right now, Ronnie. All that you need to know is that I have your dear big sister, and Elena exactly where I want them to be. I know that you'll have done a tracking spell by now to try and find her, so I know that you know exactly where she is." Anna answered with an almost sociopathic level of calmness, with the Bennett witch feeling her heart virtually stop within her chest as a result of the revelation from the female. Her instincts had been correct, her sister was in danger. "I need someone to get me into that tomb, Veronica, and you and your sister are going to do just that. If you don't want me to kill Elena, that is. Maybe once I've killed her, I'll stop by and visit that teacher that you seem to be so fond of. I'm sure that I'll have a lot of fun killing him too if you don't do exactly what I say. Or maybe I'll even go to Jeremy's." Anna instructed, with Veronica giving a fearful glance back in Alaric's direction, finding herself caught in a dilemma. She knew that opening the tomb wouldn't just let out Katherine, it would also let out all of the vampires that were down there, that had been starving for centuries. Hundreds of people, the entire town, would be in danger if she let them out but at the same time she didn't want Elena, Jeremy or Alaric to suffer. She cared about all of them dearly, with both of the Gilbert siblings and the history teacher that had recently entered her life being incredibly close to her. She couldn't let them die for her.

Swallowing down the lump in her throat, Veronica's brown eyes met Alaric's for a few moments, clearly feeling hesitant about what she was about to do. It took her a few moments, before she softly responded, "What do you want me to do?" She felt sick to her stomach about agreeing to this, not wanting to help Anna or any of her presumably vampire friends to open the tomb, but she knew that she had no choice. If she wanted to guarantee that Alaric, Elena, Jeremy and even Bonnie were going to be safe from harm, then she had to help them open the tomb.

"Well, that was far easier than I presumed it would be. If I'm correct and you've done the tracking spell, head to the place that the spell pointed out. The motel, room 16. Go alone, with no weapons. No tricks, unless you want Elena to have a snapped neck. I have a little friend looking after your sister and Katherine's double, and he's expecting you." Anna demanded, with Veronica weakly nodding in response, placing her book into her satchel bag. "Go now. I'm in the town square, and if I don't get a call from my friend within the next half an hour telling me that you've arrived, I'll stop by and say hello to Mr Saltzman. I'm far more powerful than he is, even with all of his fancy weapons." Anna commanded with an eerily instructive tone, with Veronica having to force herself to swallow down the large lump that had formed within her throat in order to speak once more.

"I'll be there. There's no need for you to hurt him. Please. Leave him out of this." Veronica virtually begged, causing Anna to once again mockingly laugh at the witch's pleading.

"Wow, you really are as pathetic as I thought you were. Half an hour, Veronica. Or I start killing those that you care about." Anna concluded, with the call soon coming to an end. The Bennett girl's shaking hands brought her phone down, making sure that the call had ended as her attention returned to Alaric, the pure terror and upset that she was feeling in those moments evident on her expression. Alaric apparently picked up on this with ease, as his head tilted slightly, with him slowly getting up on his feet.

"Ronnie? What's wrong?" He inquired with his voice being filled with nothing but pure concern for the young woman before him, just in time for her to pick up the map that she had used to do the spell, holding it out to the teacher.

"Anna has my sister. There… There's this tomb they want opened, I don't have time to explain properly, they'll…. They'll kill Elena and you if I take too long." Veronica's nervous voice responded, as Alaric gently took hold of the map, clearly feeling very confused about what was going on. "Please, take this to my Grams. She'll know what to do, how to help me and Bonnie. I need… I need to go. Now." The Bennett witch commented in a frightened manner, lightly placing her bag back on her shoulder, the confusion in Alaric's eyes only increasing as a result of her words. "I'm going to save my sister and keep you all safe. Even if it's the last thing I do. I… I know that you don't need me to keep you safe, that you're an adult and you don't need a teenager looking out for you, but… It's what I'm gonna try and do anyway." Veronica spoke gently, her eyes staying on Alaric as she tried her hardest to calm herself down, but found it almost impossible to do so. Everyone that she cared about was in danger, her protective nature was on overdrive. Alaric's eyes looked down at her with clear hesitation, almost as if he didn't want to let her go, something that the witch soon dismissed as he was probably just hesitant to get involved in this whole situation.

Truly, she couldn't blame him, she probably wouldn't want to get involved in all of this either.

She felt bad for forcing him to get involved in this latest drama of hers but time was of the essence and he was her best shot at making sure that map got to her grandmother and thus her, Elena and Bonnie would all be safe from harm. "Please, Mr Saltzman. I'm… I'm not going to force you to do this, but it would really help me out." Veronica requested softly, glancing down at the watch around her wrist to check the time. As her dark coloured eyes looked to Alaric once more, she saw the teacher give a small nod in response, agreeing to help her by taking the map to her grandmother. A gentle grin pulled at Veronica's lips as she slowly held her hand out to him, lightly placing her hand on his right arm. "Thank you." Veronica spoke, clearly meaning her words, her brown eyes lingering on the teacher's own hesitant blue ones before she forced herself to look away. The young girl felt ridiculously sick to her stomach as she forced her feet to move in the direction of Alaric's front door, one slowly moving in front of the other, in an almost robotic-like fashion due to how nervous she was feeling.

She just had to hope that her Grams would know exactly what to do to help, and that she hadn't just wasted a chance at saving her sister.

She would never forgive herself if something bad happened to Bonnie or Elena because of her.

 **AN: And I'm going to end it there! Thank you very much for reading! I hope that you enjoyed! Please let me know what you thought and I'll see you on Friday for the next update!**


	37. Chapter 36: The Bennett Fire

**AN: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, any of the characters or the plot, that belongs to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. I solely own Dana and Veronica. All rights go to their original owners.**

With her heart pounding loudly within her chest, Veronica slowly approached the room that Anna had told her to head to, just hoping that she had gotten here in time. The young witch raised her hand and knocked on the door, with it not taking long for the door to be violently yanked open, revealing a dark haired young man that she recognised to be Ben, Bonnie's date from last night. Before Veronica had a chance to react in any way other than her brown eyes noticeably widening, Ben harshly grasped hold of her and pulled her into the room, pushing her down on the floor as he soon turned his attention towards locking the door once more with the sound of a series of clicks informing her that the room was now well and truly inescapable.

Shakily, the witch rose to her feet, knowing that she had probably scuffed her knees from how violently Ben had shoved her small and fragile form down on the floor, her fearful expression softening as she caught sight of two very familiar people sat on the two small beds directly in front of her. To her left was Elena, with the Gilbert girl's doe eyes giving a clear look of confusion to Veronica, apparently not understanding what she was doing here, and to her right was the person that she had desperately wanted to see all day. Bonnie. Before Ben could say anything or instruct her to do anything, Veronica stumbled quickly over to her sister, noticing the clear fear that was held within her older twin's eyes as she did so. As an attempt to reassure both herself and her sister, Veronica threw her arms around Bonnie, tightly clinging to her as though it was the last thing she would ever do. Bonnie almost instantly returned the hug, apparently just as desperate for comfort and safety as Veronica herself was, with the twins just staying like that for a few moments in silence. They didn't need to speak, the comfort that the pair were giving each other from holding each other tightly more than enough in those moments to give the both of them some form of reassurance that everything would be okay and they would make it out of this situation safely.

"Thank God you're okay." Veronica's soft voice eventually shattered the silence that had fallen between them, hesitantly pulling away from the hug slightly so that Bonnie would be able to breathe. However, her brown eyes stayed on her elder sister as she pulled away, the distress once again appearing in Bonnie's own dark green eyes as her eyes met those of her sister. "I've been looking for you all day, I was worried that something horrible had happened to you."

"Why are you here, Ron?" Elena questioned, leaning across from her place on the opposite bed so that she was slightly closer to the two witches, causing Veronica to look over at her. She gave her a weak smile in response, relieved to see that Elena also appeared to be okay, other than looking slightly shaken.

"They were going to kill you and Jeremy. I… I couldn't let anyone be hurt because of me." Veronica answered softly but before Elena had a chance to respond, the slightly younger Bennett witch felt someone, presumably Ben, grasp hold of her long dark hair and forcefully yank her away from Bonnie and Elena. A loud cry of pain fell from Veronica's lips as she was forced back onto her feet, her wide brown eyes looking back to see that she had indeed been correct in her assumption and that it was Ben that had pulled her back.

"Otherwise known as, she's a stupid martyr who we knew would give in the mere moment that we threatened to harm someone that she cares about." Ben's voice spoke coldly, the aggressiveness of his voice causing the witch's entire form to tense, not liking where this conversation seemed to be going. "Now, Bonnie, Veronica's here to help you to open the tomb. After all, the last thing that we want is to find out that you're not strong enough to open it by yourself and we've wasted our time." Ben explained directly to the elder witch on the bed, violently tugging at Veronica's hair once more, earning a large yelp of pain from the witch. She would try to struggle or use magic to fight her way free from the vampire's grasp but she knew that he was far stronger than she was physically and that using any form of magic to get herself free may result in Bonnie or Elena paying the price and thus, she merely stood there, silently taking what the vampire was doing her with tears threatening to form in her eyes as a result of the radiating pain that was running through her body.

"Please stop hurting her!" Elena cried out in defence of her friend causing Ben to roll his eyes, soon doing what the Gilbert girl pleaded, throwing Veronica's small form down into the gap between the two beds. Her body landed on the dirty carpet with a soft thud, but Veronica refused to let out another whimper of pain, fearing that doing so might result in him deciding to try and hurt her once more.

"Fine." Ben conceded, turning on his heel and walking forwards slightly, lingering an uncomfortable distance away from the girls. His emotionless dark coloured eyes looked at the three girls before him, with his attention focusing on Veronica temporarily as the witch tried to move, wanting to sit with her sister and continue to comfort her. "If you don't want me to kill her in front of you," Ben began, giving a small head gesture in the direction of Elena as he spoke, "Then you'll stay right there." A lump formed in Veronica's throat as a result of Ben's threat, with her soon meekly nodding in response to show that she understood. She stayed completely still, her body virtually paralysed with fear about what might happen to one of her closest friends if she moved too much, her chocolate coloured eyes looking directly at Ben as the male allowed a look of satisfaction to form on his expression upon seeing the witch obey his orders. "Wow, you really are just as pathetic as Anna said you were." Veronica's heart sank within her chest as a result of his words, taking the words to heart with ease.

She knew that she wasn't likely to be as insanely powerful as her Grams seemed to be convinced her and Bonnie had the potential to be. Bonnie could be like that, Veronica knew that. Her sister was brave, Veronica had always looked up to her when she was a child for that exact reason, and she truly believed that she could manage to achieve great things with a little bit of magic practice and some time. Although Veronica wasn't planning on completely staying away from magic, she knew that even with a lot of work, she'd never be able to achieve what Bonnie had the potential to do. Besides, she was quite happy to just dedicate her time to helping her sister and making sure that she and the others that she cared about were safe within this supernatural world that they had been thrust into.

She was soon brought out of her thoughts upon hearing Ben's voice begin to speak, with it not taking long for her to realise that he was speaking to her and Bonnie. "Witches don't have eternal life, right?" He questioned, with Veronica's entire body tensing as he took a few steps closer to Bonnie. She knew that he couldn't kill her because they needed the pair of them to open the tomb, but that didn't mean that he wouldn't hurt her. "So, you guys can die." Weakly, Veronica gave a small nod in response to his question, staying completely silent, whereas Bonnie gave a verbal response. Her green eyes looked up at Ben, with Veronica being slightly surprised by the seemingly fearless look that was held in her expression as she soon answered,

"Yep. We can die." Ben nodded at her answer, an oddly amused look on his expression as he slowly began to walk away from Bonnie, a sigh of relief falling from Veronica's lips once he was a safe distance away from the three of them.

"Ah." Ben commented. "That sucks." The younger Bennett sibling's brown eyes lingered on the young man as he stood there for a few moments, with her noticeably jumping as the door was suddenly flung open, bright sunlight flooding into the room. Ben let out a loud scream as the light hit his skin, the light burning at his unprotected skin, with Veronica feeling a smile pull at her lips as she saw Stefan and Dana stood in the doorway.

Alaric had apparently done what she'd asked.

Quickly, Dana used her vampire speed to dash forwards, soon appearing in front of Veronica as she slowly helped the young witch onto her feet, holding her up for a few moments as the witch's legs nervously trembled underneath her. The vampire's blue eyes filled with what resembled concern as the young witch slowly regained her balance and strength returned to her body, with her soon asking, "You okay? We don't need you collapsing on us, Ronnie." Veronica weakly nodded in response to Dana's question, her hands lightly grasping hold of the faded blue bag strap that she wore over her chest, almost as if she was clinging to it in search of comfort. Dana also responded with a small nod as the room filled with even more piercing sunlight, Ben soon crawling into the dark abyss that was the space between the two beds, apparently aiming to heal himself and stay safe from the light that sought to set him aflame.

"Stefan!" Elena's breathless voice soon filled the room as her large brown eyes lingered on the male vampire that had been flinging open the curtains in order to force Ben into a corner. Dana raised an eyebrow at the female's response, her blue eyes looking back at the Gilbert girl who was beginning to quickly get onto her feet so that she could escape.

"Wow, gee, thanks, Elena. I helped with this rescue mission too, you know." Dana commented dryly, with Veronica soon feeling Bonnie grasp hold of her sister's hands loosely, beginning to pull her towards the wide open doorway and freedom and away from Dana.

"Let's get outside." Stefan instructed in a calm manner, just as the three girls reached the doorway. Veronica glanced back for a few moments, watching as Dana grasped hold of Ben's jacket and soon tugged him back up so that part of him was in the sun, the noise of burning and Ben's horrific screams of agony causing fear to run through Veronica. The witch nervously stumbled back for a few moments, unable to pull her eyes away from the scene before her for a while, before she forced herself to look away as Stefan approached the vampire. The Bennett girl soon turned on her heel and fled after her sister and Elena to Stefan's car, presuming that would be their mode of escape, with her heart pounding loudly in her chest in a combination of fear and relief about the fact that they had been able to escape before anyone was badly hurt.

Although Veronica could just tell that this was not going to be the last that they heard of Anna's plan to open the tomb.

And she was right.

* * *

Veronica winced slightly as she rested against the counter in her grandmother's house, the back of her head still lightly throbbing as a result of Ben's violent hair pulling mere moments ago. She knew that she would probably end up with a headache as a result of that, but that wasn't what mattered now. Coming out of her thoughts, the young woman took a small sip from her glass of water, turning back to face her grandmother and her sister as the pair began to talk. Thankfully, their voices were soft and not aggravating to the youngest Bennett witch's slowly growing headache. "How did you know where to find us?" Bonnie asked their grandmother, clearly being slightly in awe about how quickly they had been located, causing a small smile to pull at the lips of their grandmother. Her kind dark eyes looked over in Veronica's direction, giving a small gesture of her head whilst Veronica took another sip from her glass of water.

"Well, upon realising that you were missing this morning, your sister was understandably incredibly worried about what had happened to you. Ignoring my own foolish warning to leave it for a little while, she went to Mr Saltzman and gave him the completed tracking spell that she had done, allowing her Bennett witch instincts to guide her as I should have done. He came here to give it to me, told me what was going on, and I then promptly called Stefan." Sheila explained, as Veronica proceeded to timidly smile at her sister, not really believing that she deserved the praise for the rescue. As Veronica took a few tablets in an attempt to make the throbbing pain in her head recede slightly, their grandmother began to speak once more. "I admittedly was not expecting Dana to come along too, as I wasn't even aware that someone like her was capable of caring about the well-being of anyone except herself, but she did. She's the one who told Mr Saltzman to go home, and that they would handle the situation, otherwise, he would have come to the motel with Stefan and Dana to get you. He seemed to be truly concerned about what had happened to all of you." She commented, causing Bonnie to raise an eyebrow in intrigue but that faded mere moments later, whilst the effects of that statement on Veronica lasted slightly longer with a sensation of slight flattery ran through her and a tiny smile pulled at her lips.

"I'm sorry." Bonnie's voice brought the young witch out of her thoughts, as Veronica looked down at her sister who was sat at the small wooden table a few feet ahead of her. She watched as her sister quickly glanced between her grandmother and Veronica, a clear look of sincerity held in her eyes. "About all of this." Bonnie added on, causing Veronica to softly shake her head, placing down her half full glass of water next to the sink before she approached her elder sister. She softly wrapped her arms around her in attempted reassurance, with this hug being far softer than the one that she had given her back in the motel room.

"I'm just glad that you're okay." Veronica spoke softly to her sister as Bonnie slowly returned the gesture. Veronica allowed herself to just hold her sister in her arms for a few moments, truly grateful that her plan had worked and that Stefan and Dana had gotten there quickly enough before anything too bad had happened to any of them.

Gradually, the younger Bennett twin pulled away from the hug a short while later, giving her elder sister a small smile before her grandmother spoke once more. "Not as sorry as they're going to be." The elder woman mused with a mischievous smirk held on her expression, her dark coloured eyes staying on her grandchildren.

"Finished being sentimental and insulting me now?" Dana's dry and sarcastic tone inquired, causing the Bennett witch to turn back to face the vampire that was stood in the kitchen doorway, noticing that Elena and Stefan weren't far behind her. "Yes?" Dana prompted once more, taking a few steps into the room, her harsh, confident steps causing a noticeable noise to fill the room with every step that she took. Bonnie and Veronica's grandmother rolled her eyes in a frustrated manner, not even dignifying the vampire with a response, something that didn't seem to bother Dana in the slightest. The piercing blue eyes of the female met Veronica's brown eyes, with her eyes temporarily filling with what Veronica could have almost sworn was relief, before she abruptly looked back in the direction of Bonnie's grandmother.

Thankfully, before Dana had a chance to make any form of comment about the elderly woman once more, Elena decided to speak up as her and Stefan fully entered the room. "So what do we do now?" She inquired softly, looking at the three witches and her boyfriend, causing Dana to lightly scoff.

"Well, for now, you need to stay here. All of you. Dana can stay with you to make sure that Anna doesn't come back." Stefan answered, looking at Bonnie, Veronica, Sheila and Elena in turn, earning a distinct facial response from all of them. Bonnie looked mildly confused, Veronica wore an understanding expression as she completely understood why Stefan wanted them all to stay here, their grandmother looked incredibly unamused and Elena's expression seemed to suggest that she didn't agree with Stefan's idea of staying in the Bennett house.

"Oh, goody. You could have told me that I'd be babysitting." Dana spoke coldly, a sarcastic comment that earned her a small look from Stefan, but before either of them had a chance to say anything, Sheila spoke up.

"A prisoner, in my own home? I don't think so." She questioned in a sarcastic tone that was actually incredibly similar to the one that Dana had used mere moments ago, earning a small sigh from Stefan in response to her defiance of his plan.

"I can't protect any of you if you leave the house." Stefan almost immediately began to talk, clearly not wanting any of the Bennett witches or Elena to be harmed, something that Veronica truly appreciated. At least someone else seemed to share her undying desire to keep all of her friends and family safe.

"We'll protect ourselves." Her grandmother stated boldly, clearly very confident in her own abilities and those of her granddaughters. "We're all perfectly capable of doing that."

"We need to let him have Katherine back. He's not going to stop until he gets her. If we help him, maybe that ends it." Elena cut off Veronica's line of thought about what she might possibly do if Anna came after her once more, causing Dana to look over at her with a clear look of exaggerated bewilderment worn on her expression.

"Oh, yeah, because promising to help him get Katherine back worked so well the last time." Dana sarcastically retorted. "He's not an idiot, he won't fall for that twice."

Elena gave a small look in Dana's direction upon hearing her discouraging words, her eyes slightly narrowing in bemusement, but before she spoke, Bonnie's voice filled the room. "Besides, he doesn't deserve to get what he wants." At Bonnie's words, a pang hit Veronica's chest, with the words about Damon reminding her of Alaric and his situation. Sure, Veronica knew for certain that Damon was a bad person who had undoubtedly done some horrible things in his past that he would need to pay and make up for, but Veronica wasn't entirely sure that he was completely evil. There had to be something that was still human within him, something that desperately wanted to be happy with Katherine.

"There's even no guarantee that he'd actually help us to get the tomb open. I get that he'd want Katherine out, but he doesn't seem to trust anyone who isn't himself to get that job done." Veronica commented softly in an attempt to add something to the conversation, knowing that expressing any form of sympathy for Damon and any potential humanity that he had left within him would only make the situation worse as no one was likely to agree with her. Everyone in this room, with the exception of perhaps Elena and Dana, seemed to believe that Damon was truly evil and beyond any form of help.

"I don't think that we have any other choice in this situation." Elena mused, as her eyes went to Stefan, with him having not expressed his opinion on asking Damon to help them with this. A small sigh of minor frustration soon fell from his lips, with the younger Salvatore sibling soon lightly massaging his forehead, showing his clear stress.

"Witches being pulled down by vampire problems. As much as we tried to do to stay out of it. You just seem to be unable to leave us out of all this." Sheila's voice filled the room, causing Veronica to glance back at her grandmother, her brown eyes lingering on the elder woman for a few moments. She gave an annoyed exhale of breath. "I'll open the tomb. You get your brother's girl and destroy the rest with fire. Then this will be all over." She concluded, with Veronica being unable to ignore the uneasy feeling that once again settled in her stomach as a result of her grandmother's words. This spell was likely to be incredibly powerful. She didn't want her grandmother to be hurt or experiencing something far worse than that just for a spell. She would volunteer to do it herself, but she knew that it would be far beyond her level of casting.

"We still have to get Damon to agree." Stefan argued in response to Sheila's words, looking down at Elena.

"He already agreed once." Elena responded almost immediately.

"Yeah, and then we double crossed him. So now he's angry." Stefan pointed out in response to her comments, earning a slightly amused noise from Dana in response.

"And homicidal. Although, I don't think that's any different to normal Damon." Dana mused to herself in a dry tone, earning her another discouraging glance from Stefan in response, before his dark green eyes returned to Elena a short while later. He apparently didn't even want to bother telling Dana to save her sarcastic comments for a less serious moment.

Elena's large brown eyes looked up at her noticeably taller boyfriend, her expression softening as their eyes met. "He's hurt. There's a difference. I think I know what I have to do." Elena commented softly, causing Veronica's head to tilt slightly. She knew that opening the tomb that Emily had closed all those years was probably incredibly dangerous, and she didn't want her Grams, Elena or anyone else that was involved in this plan to be hurt as a result of it. They were about to set a lot of vampires free into the world, hungry vampires that had been kept underground and starving for centuries. If Stefan wasn't able to deal with them through the fire method, a lot of people were going to die.

It was in these moments, that Veronica came to a conclusion.

She knew that the spell was powerful and probably far beyond her abilities, but she was going to help with it in any way that she could possibly do so. She didn't care about it hurting her. She just wanted to make sure that no harm would come to her family, and didn't care about what the consequences of doing a spell far out of her power range would be.

She had no idea just how badly the events of that evening were going to affect her- both physically and emotionally.

 **AN: And I'm going to end it there! Thank you for reading! I hope that you enjoyed! Please let me know what you thought and I'll see you on Monday for the next update!**


	38. Chapter 37: The Darkest Night

**AN: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, any of the characters or the plot, that belongs to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. I solely own Dana and Veronica. All rights go to their original owners.**

Fearfully, Veronica's brown eyes looked around at the almost pitch black forest that surrounded her. It was actually slightly unsettling to be in the woods this late, the dim light of the stars and the moon high above them and the distant light of the party that was being held on perhaps the worst of evenings, giving them just enough light to see what they were doing. "Ronnie?" Her sister's quiet voice brought the younger Bennett witch out of her studying of the woods as she turned to look at her twin, noticing the small flickers of worry that were held within Bonnie's eyes. "Are… Are you sure that you want to do this?" Almost instantly, Veronica gave a nod, hoping that the immediacy of her answer would make her seem confident that she could perform this spell. She didn't want her sister to worry about her too much, she would far rather that Bonnie be worried about making sure that this spell didn't have too much of a negative effect on herself.

Before Bonnie had a chance to speak once more, the two twins, and their grandmother who was stood a short distance away all had their attention stolen by Stefan as the vampire clambered up from the hole in the ground that lead down to the tomb. The vampire's eyes temporarily went to Dana, who was stood on the far side of the seemingly endless pit in the ground that led down to the tomb, apparently picking up on the slightly bored expression that was worn on the female's expression as he held the worn metal shovel that he was grasping in his right hand out to Dana. "Oh, thanks. It must be Christmas." Dana commented dryly as she took hold of the wooden handle in her hand, idly twirling the shovel as though she were a majorette holding some form of baton. "And why are you giving me this? Do I look like I'm in the mood for some casual digging?" Stefan rolled his eyes slightly at the female's sarcastic comment.

"Just for once, Dana, can you take something seriously? I don't really think that any of us are in the mood for your deadpan humour." Stefan requested softly, earning him a small look from Dana, with her expression implying that she was silently questioning if the male was serious before she softly scoffed upon realising that he was. "It's for you. You're going to be our lookout here, Dana. Anna's not going to let us burn her mother alive, she will show up at some point."

"And you want me to hit her over the head like we're in a really bad comedy film? Wow, thanks, Stefan." Dana spoke in her usual dry manner, causing Sheila to shoot a small glare at her, Dana's form noticeably tensing as she did so. "Alright, calm down, Sheila, I kind of need my head!" Dana instructed between gritted teeth and a look of clear anger on her expression, causing Veronica to soon realise that her grandmother was performing a spell that she had taught both her and Bonnie, the one that caused vampires to have extreme headaches and experience an aneurysm. Veronica went to get involved and tell her grandmother to stop hurting the female vampire, when her grandmother's expression noticeably softened of its own accord, causing Dana's form to finally come out of its tensed state and her fiery blue eyes to look over at the elderly witch. "You know, you're lucky that I'm not allowed to kill you." Dana commented, as she took a small step away from Stefan. "Fine, I'll play guard dog for you. Although, I don't need this. You've seen me rip people's hearts out before they could even blink, people more than twice my height, but I appreciate your concern for my safety, Stefan."

Stefan allowed a noticeable sigh to fall from his lips in response to Dana's comments as she casually threw the shovel down on the forest floor, before the green eyes of the male vampire looked over at the group of three witches who were stood a short distance away from him, with a weak smile pulling at his lips as he apparently noticed the look of combined sympathy and awkwardness that was worn on Veronica's expression. "I… I've cleared the debris away and set up the torches like you told me to." The vampire commented softly, with a small gesture in the direction of the pit in front of him, before he took a few steps away from the pit and allowed a hand to rake through his messy hair to presumably try and calm himself down. "We can go down there now."

"What's that?" Bonnie asked, with it taking a few moments for Veronica to follow her sister's eyeline, the dimly lit area that they were in causing her to struggle to make out what the object that her sister was looking at actually was. However, as her eyes focused on the two large canisters of what was presumably gasoline or some other form of flammable liquid, due to her believing that gasoline was stereotypically stored in bright red tanks, she soon realised that this was some kind of makeshift flame thrower and not in fact the random mess of tubes and tanks that it had initially appeared to be.

"It's everything I need to destroy them." Stefan answered simply as he picked up a small flashlight that was no bigger than his hand and approached Sheila, handing the torch to the elder woman.

"Will they feel it?" Veronica's voice softly inquired as Stefan stayed close to the three witches, whilst Dana kept her distance as always, staying to her usual anti-social mannerisms. "Wh-When you burn them, will it hurt?"

"Not for long." Stefan responded, although Veronica wasn't entirely sure if he was being fully truthful with his answer and was instead just merely trying to comfort the young witch that they weren't about to just give a lot of people a very violent death, based off the small gap of time in-between Veronica's question and Stefan's answer. "Burning is perhaps one of the quickest deaths a vampire can experience, so don't worry about them feeling too much pain, Ronnie." The vampire concluded, causing Veronica to softly nod. She felt somewhat reassured in his answer, grateful that they weren't about to commit a horrible act by burning all these vampires and causing them significant amounts of pain, although they were supposedly already in a large amount of pain due to them desiccating. Perhaps they were saving them from being forced to experience that pain for the rest of eternity. That was a better way to think about it.

It didn't take long for Veronica to be brought out of her thoughts once more, as her grandmother inquired in her usual bold manner, "Are you sure that Damon will come back with her?" With her question, she was, of course, referring to Elena. The young Gilbert girl was being brought here by Damon, with the clearly doubtful vampire wanting her with him to guarantee that this time around, Stefan wouldn't try and betray him. As always, Elena was the key to all of this, and that only made Veronica more nervous that something might go wrong.

The sound of a loud, slightly high pitched whistle came from behind the witches causing Veronica to almost immediately spin around, her fear receding just a tiny bit when she saw Damon approaching them with the grimoire tightly held under his arm, Elena trailing a short distance behind. "Brother. Witches. Dana." Damon's usual cold voice greeted the group, earning him a small eyeroll from Dana and a glance from Stefan, whose attention almost immediately went to Elena as she approached him.

"Everything okay?" Stefan asked softly in response to the look of both anger and partial sadness that Elena wore on her face, clearly feeling very concerned about the woman that loved, a gesture that caused a weak smile to pull at her lips. She wished that one day, someone would worry about her that much. Stefan and Elena were adorable to her.

Elena simply nodded at the male's response once she'd reached his side, her eyes looking up at him. "I just want to get this over with." She admitted softly, with Veronica not really blaming her for having that opinion. Truthfully, in her eyes, the sooner that this was over and done with and she could head home, eat ice cream and read a good book, the better. "Are we ready?" Elena soon asked, looking over at the three Bennett witches as she asked her question. Bonnie almost immediately responded with a weak nod.

"I guess so." She responded, with Veronica giving a gentle nod of her own, lightly placing one of her hands on her sister's upper arm in attempted comfort, her brown eyes soon going to Elena as she soon gave a gentle answer of her own.

"About as ready as I'll ever be."

* * *

Veronica's eyes watched in intrigue with Bonnie directly by her side as her Grams walked around, an old-fashioned lighter held in her grasp, wondering what she was doing for a few moments. She'd never had to do this sort of preparation for a spell before.

Although, she supposed that this wasn't just an average spell.

"Air." Her Grams spoke, lowering the lighter that she was holding and igniting one of the torches that was directly in front of her, the torch almost instantly igniting. Everyone that was gathered around stayed in complete and utter silence as she soon approached the torch opposite the one she had just set alight. "Earth." She added on, turning to face the final unlit torch and using her lighter to ignite that one too, resulting in a small triangle of lit torches. Finally, the witches were able to see what they were doing, something that Veronica was grateful for. She knew that she was more likely to make mistakes in the dark.

"Water." Bonnie spoke soon afterwards, causing Veronica to look over at her twin as she soon raised an ordinary looking water bottle, which was about half full with clear water that they had gotten from the tap before they'd left the house to do the spell. Their Grams lightly took hold of the bottle of water and poured it out, sprinkling the dry ground in an oddly precise manner, a gesture that apparently earned some confusion from Elena.

"That's it? Just water from the tap?" The young Gilbert girl asked as the elderly witch continued to sprinkle water on the dusty ground beneath her, causing a slightly amused look to form on Veronica's and Bonnie's grandmother's expression.

"As opposed to what?" The elderly woman inquired as the bottle soon became empty, and Sheila handed the bottle back to Veronica, with the youngest Bennett witch carefully placing it down on the ground near her feet.

"I just figured maybe it would have to be blessed or mystical or something." Elena responded, causing the smile on the elder witch's face to widen and a small laugh to fall from Veronica's own lips.

"Sometimes, Elena, magic really is that simple." The youngest witch commented, earning her a gentle grin from Elena and a slight scoff from Dana, who was stood at the very back of the crowd of vampires that were lingering on the steps that lead up back into the darkened woods where they had been standing mere moments ago. It was clear from her expression and her lack of constant sarcastic comments that Dana did not really care about being here nor did she really care about getting Katherine back, but at the very least, she wasn't complaining about it like Veronica would have expected her to do.

She strongly doubted it, but perhaps Dana was finally beginning to learn that she couldn't always make sarcastic comments about every situation she was in. Perhaps she really did have a serious side that she just didn't allow to come out all that much.

After shooting a gentle smile in the direction of both Elena and Damon, the youngest Bennett witch knelt down with her elder sister and grandmother, with their attention now being focussed on the open grimoire that held the spell that would enable them to open the tomb. Thankfully, it didn't seem to be too complicated, or at the very least, the incantation was simple. She was unlikely to stumble over her words or get it wrong. Bonnie shot her a small glance once she had finished studying the spell for a few moments, giving her a weak grin, with it seeming as though the both of them were attempting to convince the other that everything was going to be okay and that they would be able to perform this spell with no issue. Bonnie seemed to be trying to convince her to have confidence in herself and her magical abilities, with confidence being something that Veronica had always lacked.

Admittedly Veronica knew that she was probably reading far too much into this and that it was probably just a gesture of affection and comfort, but regardless of what it was, Veronica appreciated it all the same. With one last glance in the direction of the aged spellbook to make sure that she had entirely gotten the spell down, Veronica allowed herself to at the very least try and believe that she could do this with little to no mistakes. This was going to be her moment, she was determined that it was, this was her moment to prove to her grandmother and her sister that she was a capable witch and that she was worthy of having the Bennett name.

She wanted to prove that she wasn't just a waste of space or a waste of time as she had perceived herself to be all her life. She was a powerful witch capable of doing almost anything with her family by her side, and now was when she was going to prove just that.

"We're ready." Bonnie's voice soon spoke, as Veronica took a small glance over at the three vampires and Elena that were stood a short distance from them, giving a small nod to confirm that she too agreed that they were ready to do the spell. Slowly, the group of three got onto their feet once more, with Sheila soon taking hold of Bonnie and Veronica's hands, and the twins soon linking their spare hands. Presumably this would be the thing that would combine their magic and make it strong enough to open the tomb, as the mere moment that her hands joined with her sister's and grandmother's, a weird sensation of power ran through her. It was an unusual sensation, one that took her a few moments to get fully used to it. After giving a small look in the direction of her two family members to make sure that she was still doing everything that she was supposed to, Veronica allowed her brown eyes to slowly close, focusing solely on the sensation of pure magical energy racing through her veins.

" _Phasmatos Salves Nas Ex Malon, Terra Mora Vantis Quo Incandis, Et Vasa Quo Ero Signos."_ The incantation to the spell fell easily off of Veronica's lips, as she chanted it at the same time as her other two family members, her quiet and gentle voice being easily drowned out by the much more confident and powerful voices of her sister and grandmother. Both of them were clearly much more powerful and self-assured in their abilities than Veronica was. A gentle exhale of breath fell from Veronica's lips once she had finished the first recital of the incantation, with it not being long before she repeated the exact same fifteen words, knowing that the three of them would have to repeat the same set of words multiple times before anything actually happened. The distinct sounds of Damon, Elena, Stefan and Dana's voices reached her ears, asking what it was that they were actually saying but she forced herself to push that thought to the back of her mind, beginning to repeat the set of words for the third time. Her voice got slightly more audible as she did so, becoming more convinced that she was doing something based off the dramatically increasing sensation of power that was racing through her.

As she got about halfway through her third recitation of the spell, a sensation of almost overwhelming heat hit her body, implying that something was happening to the torches as a result of their magic. The witch's breath hitched in her throat and her body slightly tensed for a few moments in slight fear, however, she soon finished her repetition of the spell upon hearing that neither her Grams nor Bonnie stopped reciting the spell. A short while later, there was a slow sound of what Veronica perceived to be rock, slowly scraping against the ground, resulting in the younger Bennett witch's eyes quickly opening. Her brown eyes widened in shock as she saw the heavy stone door that lead through to the tomb beginning to slowly open, revealing the pitch-black insides of the tomb. "Oh my God." Veronica spoke breathlessly, with her soon realising that her family had also stopped chanting shortly after she herself had done and that they too were looking in the direction of the tomb, with Bonnie clearly sharing her awe for what they had just done.

"It worked!" Bonnie's voice spoke, voicing her wonder for what they had just done as her eyes looked back at her sister and grandmother for a few moments, just in time for a small laugh to fall from Veronica's lips. She had done it. She had actually been helpful for once. Her brown eyes twinkled as she looked over at her sister, another small breathless noise of amazement falling from her lips as she did so.

"Of course it worked." Their grandmother answered with her usual self-assurance, apparently not sharing her grandchildren's energy for what they had just managed to do.

"Don't you have some fires to build?" Damon spoke to his brother, as his blue eyes looked away from the tomb before him to look at Stefan, something that Dana also did.

"I'm gonna go and get the gasoline, I'll be right back." Stefan commented softly as he lightly placed a hand on Elena's shoulder in an apparent comforting manner, a small smile pricking at his lips as he did so. Elena softly nodded at the vampire's response, as Stefan took a few steps towards the set of stairs that would lead him out of the tomb, his green eyes soon going to Dana. "Look after her." He spoke softly to his cousin, earning a small eye roll from the female, something that Stefan apparently ignored as he almost immediately headed up the old and ruined steps to get the gasoline.

"Sure, I'll babysit, that'll be a lot of fun." Dana commented bitterly as she rested against one of the crumbling stone walls, but Veronica's brown eyes were soon brought away from the female vampire when she was aware of Damon slightly staring at her and her family. The witch's head tilted slightly, wondering what he was up to, before his eyes went back to Elena and he partially held out a hand for her.

"You ready?" Damon's voice inquired, causing a look of clear confusion to form on Elena's expression and Veronica's entire body to tense in fear once more. She didn't like where this seemed to be going.

"W-What?" Elena asked in uncertainty, her eyes nervously going to the Bennett witches and then surprisingly to Dana, almost as though she were seeking help. Veronica, in a moment of bravery attempted to try and move forwards in order to get between her friend and the vampire, but Bonnie prevented her from doing so, holding her arm out protectively in front of her younger sister. Thus, she was forced to just stand there, hoping that Dana would get involved as Stefan had told her to do although she strongly doubted it. This was Dana, she wasn't exactly known for her overprotective nature when it came to Elena.

Damon's blue eyes went to the three Bennett witches stood before him, a look of slight anger and questioning worn on his expression. "You think I'm gonna go in there by myself so you can seal me in?" He inquired, raising his eyebrows as he did so, soon grasping hold of Elena by the thin material of her jacket and forcefully pulling her towards him, keeping his arms around her so that the young and defenceless Gilbert girl wouldn't be able to break free.

"Don't take her in, I'll bring the walls down." Sheila answered in anger, apparently not approving of Damon using Elena as a bargaining chip once more with Elena's large dark coloured eyes looking over at Dana once more, a pleading look in her gaze. Instead of making any form of effort to help the young woman, Dana merely pushed herself up from the wall that she was leaning against and slipped her hands into the pockets of her leather jacket.

"You'll bring the walls down if I don't. You think I trust you?" Damon responded coldly to the elderly witch's question, as Elena looked up at Damon, apparently realising that she wasn't getting anywhere with Dana. Veronica's heart pounded fearfully in her chest, not wanting her friend to be hurt as her own eyes went to Dana with desperation in her eyes, wanting her to intervene or at the very least try to help Elena.

"As much as I trust you." The elder witch snapped back in aggression, with Dana's blue eyes finally looking up from the ground that she had been rather intently looking at for the past several moments to look over at the group of three Bennett witches, and Veronica was truly rather surprised that she didn't seem to be holding even the slightest look of guilt in her eyes. Did she truly not feel guilty for allowing Damon to do this? Elena could quite easily die if Damon decided to feed her to Katherine. Was she truly that averse to being human and showing any form of emotion that wasn't cold hearted sarcasm? Veronica turned her attention away from the female vampire that stood a short distance away from her, her brown eyes settling on Elena and Damon once more.

She opened her mouth to try and speak, although she knew that Damon would probably just find her pleading for him to let Elena go unharmed more amusing than anything else, but she was soon cut off before she had a chance to by Elena. "Enough!" She spoke with a slight confidence to her voice that Veronica knew she almost definitely wouldn't have had if she was in her situation. "Both of you. Look, he needs leverage. He needs to know that you're not going to shut the door when he gets inside. I get it." Elena commented, oddly causing the slightly smug look that Damon had been wearing on his expression during his conversation with Sheila to noticeably falter slightly, although there was still a light of victory held in his eyes that Veronica could quite easily pick up on. "I'll go." Almost immediately, Damon released his grasp on Elena and leaned forward to pick up one of the brightly lit torches that the elderly woman had lit at the beginning of their ritual, lightly grasping hold of the wooden base. His blue eyes looked up at the three witches, a look of almost seemingly genuine curiosity held in his expression now.

"May I?" He inquired, and when none of the witches gave an answer, he picked up the torch regardless and turned back to walk towards the tomb opening, holding the flames above his head as he did so. Veronica's brown eyes made contact with Elena's eyes as Damon brushed past her, a clear look of fear held in the witch's eyes as she did so. Elena gave her a small nod as their eyes made contact, almost as though she were trying to reassure her that everything was going to be okay, as Veronica softly spoke.

"Please be careful." Damon completely ignored her words as was expected, but Elena gave her a small and gentle smile in response, before she slowly followed Damon into the dark abyss that was the tomb. Almost immediately, Bonnie looked over at Dana with a look of slight frustration held in her eyes.

"He told you to look after her! You're the only one that stands a chance against him physically, why didn't you get involved?" She demanded to know, causing the female vampire to sigh in slight annoyance, her blue eyes lingering on the elder Bennett twin.

"Because it's Damon." Dana responded simply to her question, her hands still placed casually in her pockets, her tone being almost monotonous. "From the moment he took hold of Elena, he was going to take her in there. I learned a long time ago then when it comes to Damon, there's no point in fighting. He's like me, he does what he wants, when he wants and he doesn't care about the consequences." The female vampire answered, a small exhale of breath soon falling from her lips. "And besides, sometimes it's easier to be the cold heartless bystander than to be the dashing hero. You'll learn that one day, Bon Bon." She commented, her eyes temporarily meeting Veronica's as she spoke her words, but before anyone had a chance to respond to Dana's comments, someone came down the steps and stood before them. Veronica's breath caught in her throat as she realised that it was Anna stood before her, her eyes soon going to Dana as the vampire turned to face the other vampire, a look of confrontation worn on her expression.

Bonnie's attention also went to Anna, as she turned to face her fully. "Hey, you're not going in there." Bonnie instructed, as a small scoff fell from Anna's lips in response to the witch's demands. Her dark coloured eyes went between the female Salvatore and the elder Bennett twin, before she commented,

"And who's going to stop me?" Anna questioned, her eyes finally settling on Dana. "You try and kill me, Ben will hear it, and he'll kill Jeremy without even thinking about it. You might not care about whether Jeremy lives or dies, but you'd care about the fall out." The female spoke, her eyes almost immediately looking over in Veronica's direction, a cold look held within her eyes. The Bennett witch's eyes narrowed slightly in confusion, not fully understanding why Anna always felt the need to bring Jeremy into this and put him in danger. She also didn't understand the implication of Anna's words, whereas from the look on Dana's expression, it seemed as though she did. "What's more important to you, Dana? Keeping up your bad bitch persona or not being hated by the one person who didn't want you dead from the moment that you met for all eternity?" Anna questioned, causing Dana's emotionless blue eyes to darken and a small growl to come from her throat, with her hesitantly taking a step backwards to enable the female vampire to get to the tomb. A small smirk soon pulled at Anna's lips, as Veronica went to take a step forwards, with her soon being kept back by her grandmother.

"Ronnie." She spoke softly to the youngest witch as she held her back, causing the young girl's brown eyes to look down at her in slight confusion, before she softly sighed and gave up. She didn't fully understand why her Grams was so willing to let the vampire into the tomb, but she figured that she wasn't going to question it. The elder woman probably had her reasons. She was more experienced at this sort of thing than Veronica herself was.

With an almost obvious nervousness to her actions, Anna soon picked up the electronic torch that Stefan had given to her grandmother earlier, looking at each of the witches and the solitary Salvatore vampire before she quickly dashed into the tomb to find whatever it was that she wanted in there. The mere moment that she had disappeared from sight and had been enveloped by the darkness, Bonnie turned to look at their grandmother with flickers of anger evident in her eyes. "Why did you let her go in?" She demanded to know, her eyes going back and forth between her grandmother and Dana. For once, Dana stayed silent, her eyes lingering on Veronica's expression with what the Bennett girl could only describe as a look of guilt in her eyes. Veronica couldn't quite understand why she had done what she'd done. She didn't care about Jeremy, just like she didn't seem to care about anyone else in this town with the exception of Veronica herself and perhaps Damon, so why hadn't she attacked Anna?

The mystery surrounding Dana only seemed to get greater with each action that she took.

As Dana had chosen this moment in particular to stay silent, it was down to their Grams to answer in her usual calm and confident manner, but her answer earned a horrified look from both Bonnie and Veronica. "Because she isn't coming out, Bonnie. _None of them are_."

Veronica's heart dropped within her chest at the revelation that none of the people that had entered the tomb would be able to get out, her dark coloured eyes filled with nothing but pure confusion. "W-What?" Her voice shakily questioned, her heart racing in fear as she nervously glanced back at the tomb doorway behind her before her eyes returned to her grandmother. "Bu… But what about Elena?"

"You're joking, right?" Dana's voice angrily questioned, causing both Veronica and Sheila to look over in the direction of the female vampire, her eyes still darkened with fury. "If you're not joking about that, then… You're freaking lucky that I'm not allowed to hurt you." Dana spoke in a threatening manner, causing the youngest Bennett witch to look at her with slightly sympathetic eyes. Sheila looked back at the angry young woman, completely unfazed by her spitfire like tendencies.

"Opening the tomb didn't remove the seal, it just merely opened the door." Sheila explained calmly, her dark coloured eyes soon looking back at the clearly very worried granddaughter, giving her a weak smile in comfort. "Elena will be able to get out. The seal only applies to vampires, she will be fine. It's Damon who won't be able to get out." She promised, a sensation of slight relief running through Veronica's system at the promise that her friend would be okay.

"So, was the next part of the plan to tell me to go in there to get Elena?" Dana's voice once again interrupted in irritation, causing the elder woman to look over at her. An unusually cold look was worn on her expression as she did so. "I mean, I'm honestly surprised that you didn't push me in there the first chance that you got and seal me away for all eternity."

"I've told you before, Dana. I want you to stay away from Veronica, and I will do whatever is necessary to make sure that you do that." Sheila responded simply to the vampire's comments, earning a small look of bemusement from Veronica and an eyeroll from Dana. "The moment that you tried to attack me just proved that you can't be trusted with her safety. I will protect my own above all else, you should know that by now, Dana. So, whilst I wasn't planning on pushing you in there, I would not be especially heartbroken if you were to do so." Dana scoffed in response to the witch's question, although the look of venom that formed in her eyes as she approached the elder woman suggested that she wasn't really amused.

"You don't know anything about me." Dana spoke coldly, resulting in Sheila raising her eyebrows slightly. "From the fact that Veronica isn't asking what happened, I'm presuming that you've told her that I attacked you. I would just like to remind you that the reason that I attacked you was because you tried to tell me what to do. I've spent my whole life being controlled, I grew up during the early 1900's, it was sort of the thing at the time. Only difference is that now I know how to stick up for myself. So, Sheila, stop acting as though you have any form of authority over me. I do what I want, when I want. If I wanted her dead, I would have done it by now." Dana responded, her blue eyes briefly going to Veronica, with the young witch almost swearing that there was a hint of genuine hurt as a result of the elder woman's plan held within her gaze, with it being deeply buried behind the typical Dana Salvatore anger that she seemed to always allow to take over her face.

Veronica's previous expression of bemusement and concern faded as her brown eyes met the blue ones of the vampire, with her truly wondering what had happened to Dana in the past that had resulted in her being so determined to do things her own way. In her human life, what horrible thing had happened to the female that had made her so certain that she had to push away almost everyone and refuse to let anyone in? The two kept eye contact for a little while longer, before the sound of someone else coming down the steps caused her to look over in the direction of the steps.

It was Stefan.

His green eyes looked around in clear confusion upon seeing that Elena wasn't stood with them, as his eyes soon went to Dana. "Where's Elena?" He questioned the person that he had entrusted with looking after her, causing Dana to sigh softly.

"I guess I'm not getting paid for this session of babysitting, huh?" She questioned, once again returning to her previous sarcastic state, turning and taking a few steps away from the group of witches. A look of pure confusion formed on Stefan's expression as he turned to look at the three witches before him, anxiety being written on his face the mere moment that he saw Veronica's sympathetic expression.

"Dana, what does that mean? Where is she?" He demanded to know, his eyes soon going back to the female vampire.

"Damon took her inside." Bonnie answered, causing Stefan's eyes to widen as his attention went to the older Bennett twin. Veronica's heart sank within her chest upon seeing just how worried Stefan was about the Gilbert girl, wishing now more than anything that she would have been allowed to get involved and help to keep Elena safe.

"What?!" Stefan questioned, voicing the panic that he was feeling as he began to quickly head over in the direction of the tomb, causing Veronica to almost immediately spring into action. She called out the vampire's name, begging him to wait. Thankfully, before he had entered the tomb, Stefan turned back to face the young Bennett witch, his eyes wide with confusion.

"If you go in there, you won't come out." Sheila spoke before Veronica had a chance to, soon beginning to explain the situation in the exact same way that she had done with Dana. She explained that doing the spell to open the door had merely opened the door, and hadn't actually brought down the boundary spell that prevented the vampires from coming down in the first place. Damon, and the other vampires that had entered since the door had been opened wouldn't be able to come out, but Elena would.

A clear look of guilt formed on Veronica's expression as Stefan took in the words that meant that his brother wouldn't be able to get through the seal that kept the tomb vampires in. Admittedly, she'd had no idea that her Grams had been planning this, but she still felt incredibly guilty that she hadn't been able to figure out that her grandmother wasn't planning on allowing Damon to have his happy ending with Katherine quite that easily. She would try and bring down the seal by herself, but she knew for definite that she wouldn't be strong enough to do it by herself and there was no way that either her Grams or Bonnie would help her release Damon for Stefan and Dana's sake.

The young woman was soon brought out of her thoughts when the sound of a loud female-sounding scream reached her ears, the hairs on the back of her neck standing up as soon as she recognised the scream. It was Elena. As an expression of pure horror formed on her expression, Stefan almost immediately turned on his heel and dashed into the tomb, his desire to save Elena and keep her safe overwhelming anything else in those moments. Bonnie let out a loud cry of the younger Salvatore sibling's name as he disappeared into the tomb, going to dash forwards and follow him before their Grams got in the way. "You can't just leave him in there, Grams!" Bonnie exclaimed, as Veronica slowly walked forwards, approaching the tomb opening to go after Stefan and make sure that Elena hadn't been hurt before the sound of her grandmother's stern voice caused her to stop.

"Veronica Abigail Bennett, don't you dare take one step further." Her grandmother instructed as the witch got within feet of the tomb opening, causing her to slowly turn back to face her two family members and Dana, who was awkwardly hanging back. "He made his choice, there's nothing that we can do!"

"No." Bonnie insisted in clear defiance, as she soon turned back and picked up the grimoire from the floor, and looked up at the elder woman and her sister as she did so. "Here. Just show me what to do, and I'll do it!" She exclaimed with desperation clear in her tone, her large dark coloured eyes looking up at the elder witch before her.

"We are not strong enough." Their Grams insisted in response to Bonnie's pleading, as Veronica took a small step forwards, approaching her sister and grandmother as she did so. "Even if we were able to bring the seal down, there's no guarantee that we could get it back up again." She commented, causing Veronica to approach her sister's side, standing there securely.

"Well, we'll never know unless we try, right? We can't leave Stefan in there, Grams, and you know it. It's not fair to him, he was just trying to do the right thing. He's our friend, and friends help other friends when they need it, right?" The younger Bennett witch questioned softly, her compassion and desire to make everyone around her happy overruling her common sense that was telling her to leave Damon in there. Bonnie's dark eyes looked over at her twin as she spoke, giving her a small grateful smile upon hearing her words, before her attention returned to the elder witch stood before her.

"I'm with her." Bonnie spoke with confidence, taking hold of her twin's hand with the hand that wasn't holding the grimoire. "Either you help us, or we'll do it alone."

 **AN: And I'm going to end it there! Thank you very much for reading! I hope that you enjoyed! Please let me know what you thought of this chapter and I'll see you on Friday for the next update!**


	39. Chapter 38: I'm Not Okay (I Promise)

**AN: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, any of the characters or the plot, that belongs to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. I solely own Dana and Veronica. All rights go to their original owners.**

Veronica's dark coloured eyes looked up from the spellbook that the three of them were studying upon hearing the sound of sneakers lightly thudding against the dry ground, a sigh of relief falling from her lips as she soon saw that Elena had just ran out of the tomb. She seemed to be relatively unharmed, thankfully, she was just panting for air and looked a little bit shaken up about whatever had happened, which was understandable given the circumstances. "Elena. Thank God, you're okay." She spoke softly, her voice causing Bonnie to also look up from the spellbook, her expression noticeably softening upon seeing the Gilbert girl before her.

"Elena… Stefan…" Bonnie began to speak, clearly uncertain about how she should begin to explain to Elena what was going on, but she was soon cut off by Elena, insisting that the vampire was right behind her. Veronica lightly brought her lower lip between her teeth as the younger Salvatore brother soon appeared in the entryway of the tomb, unable to fully leave due to the boundary spell. The invisible seal pinned him back, and Stefan's sudden 'hesitation' to leave the tomb clearly confused Elena as she looked back at her boyfriend. It didn't take long for her expression to shift to one of worry as her dark coloured eyes met the forest green ones of Stefan, her head slightly tilting. She took a few delicate steps towards him, although she still kept her distance from the opening of the tomb, her attention solely focussed on her boyfriend.

"Stefan, what are you doing?" Elena's voice inquired softly, as Dana finally sped forwards and took hold of the Gilbert girl's shoulders before she could get too close to the tomb. Apparently, the female didn't want her to wander back into the dark abyss once more and have to deal with the trouble that it would cause her, and honestly, Veronica was glad that she was taking action. It was better late than never.

"It's gonna be okay, we'll fix it." Bonnie responded to Elena's question, as the dark eyed Gilbert girl brought her focus away from looking up at Dana with pure bewilderment on her expression to look over at the Bennett witches once more. Her doe eyes narrowed slightly at Bonnie's response, as she apparently also noticed the saddened look on Veronica's face.

"What is it? Dana, will you please get off of me?" Elena questioned, as Dana rolled her eyes at the Gilbert girl's comment.

"Trust me, as much I would like to be nowhere near you, Elena, I'm not going to do that. The last thing that we need is you wandering back in there and putting yourself in danger again. Not entirely sure I can live with sitting through another episode of the Where's Elena Gilbert Show." Dana commented dryly, although Elena completely ignored her comment as her eyes went back to Stefan in time for him to speak.

"I can't come out, Elena." Stefan answered simply, his voice containing a clear hesitation to give the truth to the young woman before him.

Elena's eyes stayed on Stefan as his words sank in. "Wh-What do you mean? Why can't you leave?" She wanted to know, her eyes still coming to look over at the three witches who were hard at work studying the incantation that would be the key to getting Stefan, and the other vampires that had entered the tomb, out.

"The spell's still up. We can't get them out. Yet." Bonnie responded softly, with Veronica taking this moment to chime in with her own form of reassurance for the clearly panicking young Gilbert girl.

"But, we know how to bring it down, we're working on it right now. It'll be okay, he'll get out. I promise." Veronica spoke with a weak smile on her lips, causing Elena to give her a small grateful glance before her attention returned to Stefan.

"You went in there not knowing if you could come back out?" The young woman questioned, her voice being thick with emotion. Stefan stayed silent, his eyes awkwardly looking down at the ground for a few moments as he didn't bother to give a verbal response to her. Presumably, his silence was enough of an answer, his silence telling her that of course he had run in, not caring about if he couldn't get out, as long as she was safe. "Oh my God." Elena spoke breathlessly as Stefan continued to stay silent, his eyes finally looking back up at her. The heartfelt moment that she was witnessing had a noticeable effect on Veronica, a saddened look held within her dark brown eyes. Truly, this moment only made her more determined to bring down the seal so that Stefan could be with Elena once more, and that they could be happy. She didn't like seeing them both so upset, Elena especially.

"I heard you scream." Stefan's hoarse voice finally answered, bringing the witch out of her thoughts as she looked back at the Grimoire for a few moments and intensely studied the written words on the page.

"We can't leave him in there. We promised him. Both of us." Elena answered softly, obviously referring to Damon with her words.

"I know." Stefan responded simply, as Veronica once again brought her eyes up from the aged pages the mere moment that her Grams and Bonnie did the same, with all three of them looking over at the couple stood in the entryway of the tomb. Admittedly, Dana slightly blocked them from having a direct view of the pair, but they could still see the two figures with ease.

"Even if we're able to break through the seal, we won't be able to hold it for long." Sheila commented softly, subtly informing the vampire in the entrance that he wouldn't have much time to make sure that his brother got out as well. If she were honest with herself, Veronica believed that they would only have a matter of minutes once they'd started the spell. Even though their Grams had been doing magic a lot longer than she and Bonnie had and was much more experienced, she and Bonnie were newcomers to the magical world. They weren't likely to be able to sustain powerful spells for long, although Veronica was determined to give it her best shot. She didn't care about how much it was going to hurt her, as long as Stefan got out and brought Damon with him. Understanding the elderly woman's warning, Stefan softly nodded, his eyes making contact with those of Elena for a few moments before he soon turned around and headed back into the dark tomb to presumably go and find Damon.

Now it was all up to them.

Standing once again in the centre of the small circle of torches, Veronica clasped hold of her sister and grandmother's hands, letting a nervous breath fall from her lips as her dark coloured eyes watched Dana slowly release her grasp on Elena and continued to linger in front of the tomb opening with a look of slight anxiety in her eyes. Almost as soon as she was let go Elena began to move, pacing around the three witches, worry evident in her movements due to how much her legs appeared to be shaking under her. Forcing herself to push her sympathy for Elena and Dana to the back of her mind, the young witch slowly closed her brown eyes once more, focusing solely on the magic rushing through her body and the sound of her heart pounding in her chest as she began to softly recite the same spell that they had performed before. " _Phasmatos Salves Nas Ex Malon, Terra Mora Vantis Quo Incandis, Et Vasa Quo Ero Signos."_ The words came with an unusual amount of ease, with Veronica being slightly unsettled by how much the language of magic seemed familiar to her now, the incantations practically becoming a second language to her. Focusing solely on the power that rushed through her veins as a result of the words falling from her lips, the sensation of heat that she had experienced previously once again returned, presumably as a result of the torches flaring up once more due to their magic.

Taking that to be a sign that she was doing everything right, the young witch repeated the words once more, putting slightly more power behind each syllable she spoke as she grew in confidence and the magic running through her veins surged. The power seemed to be practically radiating off of her, her magic taking control of very cell inside of her body and she couldn't deny that she liked it. It was so easy for her to get lost in it, allowing the feeling to completely take over her body and mind.

She got so completely lost in the sensation that it took her a while to realise that her chest was suddenly tightening, and that it was quickly becoming harder for her to breathe. The sensation was now becoming almost overwhelming, the power growing and growing constantly and there was nothing that she could do to control it or stop it from hurting. A noticeable sharp pain raced through her body, the fire-like sensation ripping through her body and causing her to break off the incantation midway through as she let out a whimper of pain. She gritted her teeth, continuing to try and finish off the spell as best as she could manage, not wanting to be the one that ruined the spell because she wasn't strong enough. She wanted to be strong, powerful and deserving of the Bennett name, like her sister was.

That was the sole reason why, with her body being almost overcome with pure agony and what she was pretty sure was blood dripping from her nose, the young witch forced herself to keep going. Her strong desire to prove herself, to show that she was worth something pushing her to carry on through the agonising sensation that was scorching through her whole form.

She was so intent on focusing on making herself keep going with the spell that she jumped slightly upon feeling Bonnie, who was stood on her right, collapse slightly. Apparently, the magic was affecting her too, although Veronica was pretty sure that it would affect her less than it affected Veronica due to her being slightly stronger. Their grandmother also broke off the recitation of the set of words to beg Bonnie and Veronica to keep going, apparently being able to notice that both of her grandchildren were struggling with the incredibly powerful spell. Veronica tried to force herself to give some kind of comfort and motivation to her sister, but all she could let out was a weak croak of her name, before she went back to repeating the spell once more.

The warmth of the torches around them soon disappeared, the weakness that the younger witches displayed apparently causing them to extinguish as the pain that Veronica was experiencing caused her knees to tremble beneath her. However, she didn't hit the ground, as she soon felt someone pull her back up and hold her up by placing their hands on her shoulders, displaying a strength that the Bennett girl desperately needed in those moments. "You can do this, Ronnie. I believe in you." Dana's voice spoke with a surprising softness and comfort for the usually heartless vampire, as Veronica continued to recite the spell, using Dana's support to keep herself standing upright as she did so.

Truly, the pain that she was experiencing made her feel as though she was about to explode, but that was once again pushed to the back of her mind as she felt Bonnie collapse once more, the spell overwhelming her just as easily as it was overwhelming Veronica. "Oh my God, I can't!" Bonnie exclaimed, her voice sounding almost breathless, as Veronica used her tight grip on her sister's hand to try and pull her back up and give her reassurance that she wasn't alone in doing the spell. Perhaps being aware in the fact that she wasn't the only one struggling to keep the spell going might help her.

"Yes, you can." Sheila spoke to her granddaughter with confidence as they went for one last recital of the spell, putting all the strength that the three of them had into speaking the words, the sound of stone once again moving the mere moment that they finished that particular line. Slowly, Veronica forced her eyes to open, a sigh of relief falling from her lips once she saw that Damon, Elena and Stefan were all out from the tomb. She wasn't going to question why Katherine wasn't there, she didn't have the effort to do so as she dropped down to the floor. Shaking breaths fell from her lips as Bonnie slowly joined her on the floor and the two twins wrapped their arms around each other in tiredness and desire for comfort, clinging onto each other with all the strength that they had. The pride and tiredness that they were both feeling as a result of the spell battled it out, with the tiredness easily winning over as Veronica rested her head against her sister's shoulder. She shot a small and weak look of gratitude up at Dana to thank her for holding her up, before she returned her attention to her sister and grandmother.

Honestly, she was just grateful that the spell was over.

However, the young witch had no idea that the evening itself and the chaotic events that it seemed to hold were far from being over.

 **AN: And I'm going to end it there! Thank you for reading, I hope that you enjoyed! I'm sorry that this chapter was slightly shorter, I promise that the next one will be longer! I hope you enjoyed it, regardless of the length! Please let me know what you thought in a review! I'd be especially interested in hearing what you think about Dana, given that she'd a far more complex and different character than Veronica is! I'll see you on Monday for the next chapter!**


	40. Chapter 39: You're Never Gonna Fit In

**AN: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, any of the characters or the plot, that belongs to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. I solely own Dana and Veronica. All rights go to their original owners.**

Veronica's legs trembled underneath her as Dana kept her arm wrapped around her shoulders to keep her upright as they slowly entered Sheila's house. Upon seeing how weak the young witch clearly still was, Dana had insisted on coming home with her, and Veronica could have sworn that her actions were the result of concern for her and Bonnie's wellbeing if she didn't know Dana well enough. Regardless, she was still incredibly grateful that the female vampire was helping her home. With how much her head was pounding and her legs were aching, she doubted that her attempting to walk home by herself without anyone to lean on would have gone too well. Her Grams seemed to share her tiredness as a result of the spell, whilst Bonnie had bounced back and was now perfectly fine, which led Veronica to presume that reactions to spells were individual to witches.

Veronica just felt as though she needed a little bit of sleep and then she would be perfectly fine, like Bonnie herself was, whilst her Grams might need a little bit more than that. The young Bennett girl knew that her Grams was incredibly tough, and she was pretty sure that doing the spell wouldn't keep her down for too long. As they stepped through into the brightly lit kitchen, Dana slowly helped Veronica to sit down into a chair and work on catching her breath presumably, whilst their Grams almost immediately headed for the kitchen doorway that would eventually lead her to the stairs. A tired look of intrigue formed on Veronica's expression as she saw just how shaken her Grams appeared to be as a result of the spell. She couldn't remember the last time that she'd seen her like this, in fact she couldn't remember if there had ever been a time when she'd been like this. She'd always been her strong and bold grandmother throughout her entire life, so it was incredibly worrying to see the elder woman like this. Apparently, Bonnie seemed to follow her sister's gaze, and with the energy that she seemed to have, she easily caught up with the elderly woman and lightly placed her hand on her arm.

"Hey, let me help you." Bonnie spoke, her voice full of concern for the elder witch that she and her sister cared so much about, with it not taking long before the stubborn elder woman weakly shook her head and caused Bonnie to hesitantly remove her hand from its resting place on her upper arm.

"Oh, I'm fine." Sheila insisted with a weak smile on her lips. "You don't need to coddle me, baby." Feebly, Veronica forced herself to slowly sit upright in the chair, knowing that she could use the chair to get up on her feet if it was necessary, her medical instincts beginning to kick in as a result of her being worried for her grandmother.

"D…Do you want me to take a look at you? I… I can look at your heart rate and…" Veronica gently began, her voice still holding that infamous Veronica softness that overwhelmed the tiredness in her voice. Her offer caused their grandmother to look back at her over her shoulder and give her a weary smile in response to her offer.

"I'll be fine, Ronnie. You need to get some rest, don't you worry about me." She insisted, her attention going back to Bonnie for a few seconds before she proceeded to unsteadily walk off in the direction of her bed, the frailty of her movements only causing Veronica's heart to sink further in her chest. She wished that there was something that she could do, but she wasn't sure that, even if she did have energy, that her Grams would even let her do so. She had never been one to want a fuss made about her.

The younger Bennett girl soon felt a hand being lightly placed on her shoulder, as she looked back, her eyes soon meeting Dana's cold blue ones. "You heard the supposedly wise woman. I don't need you collapsing from exhaustion, Ron. I'm meant to be the dead one here, not you. I will drag you up those stairs if I have to." Dana insisted, causing Veronica's brown eyes to glance over at her sister for a few moments, about to argue that she needed to stay up to help her sister adjust with what they had just done and make sure that she was okay before Dana's voice once again cut her off. "Veronica. If you're that insistent on looking after your sister, I'll stay and keep an eye on her. If she suddenly falls over or explodes into flame or something, then I'll come get you. Okay?" Dana questioned in her usual dry tone, with Veronica's eyes soon going back to her sister, almost as though she were seeking confirmation that Bonnie was alright with her going to bed and leaving her with Dana. Her sister turned to face her upon realising that Veronica was looking at her, as she gave her a weak smile.

"It'll be okay, Ron. I'm fine, go and get some sleep." Bonnie insisted, taking a few steps towards her younger sister, lightly placing her hand on her upper arm. Veronica gave her a small look of hesitation, not fully sure that leaving her with Dana was the best option. After all, she did have a bit of a tendency to dash off suddenly. "Ronnie, it's okay. Elena will come over soon to make sure I'm okay, nothing bad will happen." Bonnie once again spoke with a surprising amount of certainty in her tone, with Veronica soon giving a small and uncertain nod in response to her sister's words. She couldn't ignore the slight sensation of unease that was buried deep in her stomach but she also got the feeling that Dana would actually pick her up and carry her up the stairs if she carried on refusing to go up and get some sleep. Thus, against her better judgement, the young Bennett witch softly nodded and returned her focus to Dana.

"Come on, Little Miss Stubborn." Dana commented dryly as she began to slowly lead the young witch in the direction of the staircase, using a surprising amount of gentleness for the usually very harsh and forceful vampire. The younger Bennett girl was able to shoot just one more glance in the direction of her older twin before she and Dana reached the stairs. "Don't tell me that you want me dead too, Ronnie." Dana commented as they began to slowly climb the old and worn staircase, with Veronica actually being surprised by the fact that Dana had slightly brought down the volume of her voice so that they wouldn't risk waking up her grandmother.

"W-What gave you that idea?" Veronica questioned softly as her brown eyes went to the bright-eyed vampire soon afterwards. Dana let out a small scoff in response to the witch's tone as they continued to gradually clamber up the stairs.

"Everyone else seems to want me dead. I mean, that's nothing new, everyone I meet seems to want to kill me eventually. Most people don't seem to like my charm and constant cynicism, so I just presumed that after what happened today with Elena that you'd hate me too. I just wanted some clarification on the subject." Dana commented in her usual sarcastic tone as they finally reached the top of the staircase and Dana continued to practically carry the weakened Bennett witch in the direction of her bedroom.

Almost immediately, Veronica softly shook her head, with the motion being enough to make her feel slightly dizzy. "I don't hate you, Dana." She spoke softly, truly meaning it. "You annoy me at times and confuse me, but I don't hate you." Veronica informed her, causing Dana to let out a small scoff of clear amusement.

"I think that's the most polite way I've ever been called obnoxious in my whole life. But, thank you, Ronnie, I appreciate it." Dana spoke in her typical joking tone as she slowly pushed open the girl's bedroom door with a quick shove of her spare shoulder that she wasn't using to hold the witch up.

"I mean it." Veronica responded softly and honestly as they entered the small room, with her hesitantly pulling out of Dana's grasp so that she could quickly stumble over to her bed, collapsing clumsily down onto her carefully made bed. "I don't hate you. You bemuse me more than anyone I've ever known, and I don't get you in the slightest, but… I think that's why I like you so much. You're different, you're intriguing and I like that."

"And you're half asleep." Dana commented as she casually leaned against the doorway. Her eyes lingered on the woman on the bed for a few moments, her body language being peculiarly reserved for the typically very open and confident vampire due to how tightly her arms were wrapped around herself. "I think that you should get some sleep and if you're still singing my praises in the morning, well, then I won't complain. I don't often get compliments. I think that might be my first compliment this decade."

Veronica rolled onto her side, thus enabling her to face the vampire completely, as her eyes studied the girl for a matter of moments. She didn't understand why Dana was acting like this. Dana had never really shown any form of emotion that wasn't pure cold sarcasm, and even then the brief flashes of time when she'd shown another emotion had never seemed fully genuine or hadn't lasted long enough for anything to come of them. In those moments, she seemed to be displaying an emotion of genuine sensitivity from the look that seemed to be held in her piercing blue eyes. Veronica had just perceived Dana asking if she wanted her dead after the events of the evening as just typical Dana being sarcastic and asking a dumb question to try and lighten the mood but from the look that was held in her eyes, Veronica couldn't help but wonder if she was actually being serious with her question.

Dana was an interesting person to say the least. You could never be fully sure what she was truly feeling because of how hard she tried to cover up her emotions to maintain the charade of her being strong and powerful. Everything she did was just the latest piece in the large puzzle that was Dana Salvatore, and no matter how hard Veronica tried, she was pretty sure that she was nowhere near close to putting the puzzle together.

"You're doing that thing again." Dana's cold voice brought her out of her thoughts, causing the witch's eyes to narrow slightly in bemusement. "That thing where you zone out and just stare at the floor." The vampire commented in a partially teasing tone, a small amused smirk pulling at the corner of her lips as she did so. "I know I'm not the greatest at keeping conversations, but if you could keep your mind in the same room as me for more than five minutes, that'd be great." Veronica let out a trembling breath in response to the vampire's words, shooting her a small and apologetic look as she soon proceeded to rake her hand through her messy dark brown hair. "Whatever, I'm used to it. Don't think I'm going to be winning any prizes for my amazing conversational skills anytime soon. I'm gonna go back and be on Bonnie and Elena watching duty now. Great. I'm sure that I'll have the time of my life doing that. You're lucky I like you, Ronnie." Dana spoke, hesitantly standing upright and pushing her hands into the pockets of her jeans.

"Thank you." Veronica whispered tiredly to the vampire, causing her to give a small shrug of her shoulders as though it wasn't a big deal to her.

"Don't mention it. Seriously, don't, because if you remind me that I'm willingly spending another evening of my life with Elena Gilbert, I might just jump out of that window." Dana let out a small sigh as she glanced over her shoulder in the direction of the staircase that they'd just climbed up, before turning back around to fully have her focus on the tired witch before her. "Besides, you're the only person that I don't completely despise in this town, Veronica. Just… don't tell Damon that. I've got to seem tough so he doesn't think that he can start throwing me through tree branches regularly. I don't have enough jackets." Dana rambled in perhaps the calmest manner that Veronica had ever heard anybody ramble before. "Now, go to sleep, Veronica Abigail Bennett, or I'll set your grandmother on you."

Veronica raised an eyebrow in response to Dana's words, but didn't make a comment, instead choosing to silently roll onto her back as her brown eyes finally fluttered shut. There was a faint sound of the bedroom door closing as Dana presumably left the room to head back downstairs, but Veronica chose not to focus on the noises around her too much, as she desperately wanted to fall sleep and just move on from this evening.

But, as the young witch lay there, drifting slowly into a state of temporary unconsciousness, the young woman had no idea that in just a matter of moments, her world would completely fall apart. In fact, just as Veronica found herself about to fall asleep, the sound that signalled the beginning of the end reached her ears and caused her to bolt upright in panic. It was Bonnie's voice, loud and full of panic.

"Ronnie! Come here, now! Please!"

 **AN: And I'm going to end it there! Thank you for reading, I hope that you enjoyed! Please let me know what you thought in a review and I'll see you on Friday for the final part of this episode!**


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